Originally Posted by
tdracer
Boeing didn't really want to do another 737 and was working on a completely new 737 replacement - I knew people who were on the program. But, when Airbus launched the A320 NEO series, it caught Boeing with their pants down.
I've heard this view before. But surely Boeing would have known perfectly well what Airbus had in hand. The new engines coming along were a known, and doubtless long offered to Boeing on the same timescale. Airlines would have been approached and received presentations on the plans. Suppliers and vendors serving both would be early in on it. Personnel leave one company and join others, taking knowledge with them. Boeing market research, which they have long been regarded as world leaders in, would surely have been aware of where Airbus were heading. The issue that the new engines readily fitted under the A320 airframe but not the 737 was also long known.