Boeing is betting that technology will mature enough by 2019/2020 to support a new airplane to serve the all-important 100- to 200-seat market, rather than taking the option of re-engining 737NGs to compete with the Airbus A320 New Engine Option (NEO) program.
“If we can come up with the right airplanes in the roughly 2019/2020 [period], I personally think the market will wait for us,” CEO James McNerney told analysts during a 2010 earnings call yesterday. “But we have to work through the airplane [to see] more precisely what it will look like.”
Boeing Bets On Replacement 737 Over Reengining | AVIATION WEEK
It seems Boeing has all but decided to come up with something new.
Wonder if any new engine technology (further the PW geared turbofan or GE LEAPX technology) will be available by 2020..