Originally Posted by CLazarus

Nope. I didn't say seven across, I assume at least 2+4+2 or greater (never more than one seat away from an aisle, that would be nice). If you take a gander at some of the advanced military airlifter concepts out there, lifting bodies are coming. I'm sure a 797 won't be a pure lifting body, but it will benefit from the subsidies... er, research.

Like I said before, an aircraft able to carry 250ish people that can fit comfortably into existing narrowbody gates and be turned faster than an 8 Max. It is the only compelling design I can think of that we'd want to be a launch customer for. It might not look all that different than what is already out there, and Boeing certainly made it seem that way this week in Paris.

However, I duly note the possibility that Boeing's marketing department might be dispensing bundles of chaff.