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Airbus has the A320 line, which is a quantum leap ahead of the 737, and the A220 line, which is another leap ahead of that. The latter, which for my money is th
by DC-3 6y ago
Airbus has the A320 line, which is a quantum leap ahead of the 737, and the A220 line, which is another leap ahead of that. The latter, which for my money is the best commercial jet in the world right now, also benefits from not being subject to import duty in the US, which was previously the main reason besides patriotism for US airlines to buy Boeing narrowbodies. In addition, although Boeing's widebodies are not obsolete in the same way as the 737 is, the A350 is probably the best long-haul jet in the world right now. In the past, Boeing used to make massive profits on 747s because no-one else was selling super-high capacity planes, but the A380 squeezed their margins to the extent that they had to pursue the sticking-plaster MAX instead of a clean-sheet replacement.
- dgemm 6y agoThe 737 was not replaced because of development costs but because airlines that are heavily invested in 737s already just want more of them. Boeing is really squeezed in that situation.
- Xixi 6y agoThe only effect the A380 had was to trick Boeing into developing the 747-8, a major failure as a passenger plane, but doing fairly decently as a freighter. Boeing didn't have the cash to develop a clean ship 737 successor because of the issues with 787 production. Although the 787 has become (pre-COVID) quite a cash cow, in 2011 when Boeing decided to do the 737MAX instead of the NSA it was in a very poor shape: 20~30 billions USD hole, 3 years delayed, and no positive cash flow expected for years to come. The house was on fire, it was not the right time to commit to a new clean-sheet design, although it would probably have been the right decision (hindsight...).