Originally Posted by
Rwy in Sight
How much (ball pack (sp?) figures would cost the option to upgrade the engines as the case of the newer generation of 737 vs designing an aircraft from scratch.
As I understand it (hopefully someone can correct me here) :
The A320Neo is a question of substituting engines and bolting on winglets.
The 737Neo is a different matter because the new engine has insufficient clearance as is, so a new longer landing gear is required, which in turn requires fuselage underbelly mods to stow it when retracted, different positioning of bulkheads, etc. Believe there are also significant wing mods required. I understand the engineering required is a whole league different compared to what Airbus need to do, which is doubtless part of the greater evaluation Boeing has to do. I also wonder if the A320Neo will get on the same type certificate, and therefore crew qualification, and whether the Boeing, with much greater changes, can do the same or not.
It's remeniscent of when the DC8-60 series came along, Douglas could do the stretch but the Boeing 707, which was indeed evaluated for the same, proved incapable of a comparable stretch due to its basic design and layout.