Their concern about fuel tanks seems a legit discussion item to me, but this kind of theoretically constructive industry commentary doesn't usually make the news.


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...-idUSKCN2AU2RJ

Were I of a suspicious nature, I might view this as attempting to scuttle a rival.....

Could have told them to do this a decade ago. Between the 737 and the 787.

This is more Boeing business chicanery. It’s kinda their thing.

You would think McDonald-Douglas was running the company.

A purpose-built mid-size plane would have to be more efficient than a stretch 321. If only they can build one before the XLR consumes all of the market niche...

James S. McDonnell and Donald W. Douglas see what you did. And no hyphen in McDonnell Douglas, as well.

Aerodynamically more efficient? Possibly. Economically more efficient when you consider the existing A320 family worldwide logistics and training infrastructure? Far less likely.

No, it was Boeing who tried to stretch an existing aircraft a model too far with the MAX. They should have had a 757 follow-on waiting in the wings a decade ago. Now they are trapped in lag for at least a few years, more likely a decade.

Fuel burn is going to be the metric that punches well above its weight, if current green trends play out. Either due to a need to reduce burn/emissions, the high cost of SAF, or both. Also while the bus is newer than the guppy, it's still 40 years old. A clean-slate design could have enough baked-in economic advantages IMO.

Boeing has a well established support network.

But it doesn’t have sims, parts, or type-certified pilots for the -5x, or even a flying prototype. And with the FAA under scrutiny for giving them too much license to self-certify on the MAX, they are not going to get any of that for a considerable time by which - as you mentioned - the niche will largely have been filled.

And SAF is still buying indulgences from the church of the envirowackoes. It makes more sense to continue to pump Jet-A and offset it by producing non-carbon power on the ground, through geothermal, hydroelectric (rare and inconsequential minnows be damned), and nuclear until we can get working fusion power plants. That’s still buying indulgences, but at least you are buying them at a cheaper rate.