Originally Posted by
OldnGrounded
From reading the comments on the mainstream media stories covering this issue, my sense is that a large percentage of pax don't have that faith. I'll be surprised if there isn't widespread reluctance to fly the MAX as SLF, when it returns to commercial service.
Many of us said the same about the early 78, during its 'Firebird' days. Five years later, the 78 gets consistently high ratings by that minority of the passenger community who have any clue what aircraft type they are flying on. Of course, there were no revenue hull losses during the 78's problem period, and one can assume the two crashes will count more against the 73-Max in perception terms. But I suspect in 5 years time most pax will be flying the 73-Max-10/11/12 without a second thought.
Boeing are going to make damn sure branding of the next variant of the Max will be an ocean of clear blue water away from the Max-8/9. They might even drop the 'Max' name, and come up with something touchy-feely that taps into the 'Dreamliner' imagery - The '737-Sunliner', perhaps.