Originally Posted by
43Inches
The 737 replacement was started and then shelved over 10 years ago. The 800 was supposed to be the final model, and then restructuring issues, the GFC and a few other things had the project canned. Boeing can't do crud in secret when it comes to new designs. Biggest mistake was letting the 757 die, now the gap it filled is getting progressively owned by the A320/321. All because US airlines didn't like narrow-bodies. Boeing came up with the original cross crewed 757/767 idea, it was just 20 years too early, Airbus made it work at the right time.
Boeing's biggest mistake was to allow itself to be hollowed out by the cancer that was McDonnel Douglas. Every dumb idea flowed from there…relocating head office to Chicago, opening plants across the country on idealogical grounds, outsourcing the engineering and manufacturing of almost everything on the 787 with the attendant billions of dollars wasted. The 787 debacle stripped the company of the funds and engineering talent to do a clean sheet 737 replacement. Share buy-backs didn’t help.
Everything wrong with Boeing was caused by greed and arrogance in the executive suite.
By the way…Boeing insiders say the 757 was a very expensive aeroplane to build hence the decision to kill it.