The common denominator as of now for Boeing and Airbus is the PW GTF or the CFM Leap X (or is it ten?).
A Boeing 737 NEO no matter how difficult is going to get within a few percentage points of an A329 neo in performance at a fraction of the cost of a 797, which has to use the same engines at the moment.
Do you spend say $3 billion to tart up the 737 or $10 billion on a 797 giving probably a marginally better direct operating cost than 737 NEO for an additional $10 million in capital cost?
The dog in all these questions is that open rotor seems to be the next big step in power plants now that the noise appears to be solved, and it is going to be very difficult to come up with a common airframe to suit open rotor, GTF and LeapX.
Maybe Keesje can dream up a suitable concept?
