In the back and forth, one thing I haven't heard much on is what could have been done to result in a clean-sheet design. The timeline looks like Boeing was pub

In the back and forth, one thing I haven't heard much on is what could have been done to result in a clean-sheet design. The timeline looks like Boeing was publicly leaning towards a clean sheet redesign until the end of 2011. Then, seemingly out of the blue, American made this announcement on 7/20/2011. "As part of the Boeing agreement, American will take delivery of 100 aircraft from Boeing's current 737NG family starting in 2013, including three 737-800 options that had been exercised as of July 1, 2011. American also intends to order 100 of Boeing's expected new evolution of the 737NG, with a new engine that would offer even more significant fuel-efficiency gains over today's models. American is pleased to be the first airline to commit to Boeing's new 737 family offering, which is expected to provide a new level of economic efficiency and operational performance, pending final confirmation of the program by Boeing. This airplane would be powered by CFM International's LEAP-X engine." http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2011/AMR-Corporation-Announces-Largest-Aircraft-Order-In-History-With-Boeing-And-Airbus-07202011/default.aspx http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2011/AMR-Corporation-An... Afterwards, Boeing fairly quickly announces they'll be offering an up-engined 737 NG design. Presumably the issues were noted at some point in the development process (~2013?). At that point... the FAA should have been the one pointing out development issues would cause serious regulatory problems? Afaik, they don't have the funding or personnel for that level of design integration. And like agile, the farther down the road after that decision we get, the more money is at risk and the more constrained options are. So the answer here seems like deeper and earlier regulator involvement in the development phase? I'm honestly having difficulty coming up with a plausible sequence of events that would have resulted in a different outcome. When Airbus released the A320neo mid-development cycle for Boeing, the die seemed cast.