Manufacturer Begins Development of a New Single-Aisle Jet

After nearly a decade of trying and failing to gain momentum, Boeing’s 737 MAX project may finally be giving way to a successor. The company is reportedly in talks with Rolls-Royce to discuss engine options for the soon-to-be single-aisle plane.

The 737 MAX is a record-setter in the industry… for all the wrong reasons. The aircraft was grounded worldwide in March 2019 following two near-identical crashes: Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which together killed 346 people. The grounding lasted 20 months, making it the longest in modern aviation history. Regulators approved design changes and airlines returned the MAX to service in late 2020, but Boeing has struggled to restore public trust or meet production targets ever since.

The setbacks have not been resolved. In January 2024, a door-plug panel blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 mid-flight, leading the FAA to freeze Boeing’s ability to self-certify aircraft and impose a cap of 38 MAX jets per month. The FAA has recently begun restoring limited certification authority, but oversight remains extremely stringent. The agency has said time and time again that Boeing will only get more freedom if it proves it can meet safety and quality standards without cutting corners.

In the meantime, Boeing insists that its priority is clearing its nearly 6,000 aircraft backlog and securing certification for the still-unfinished 737-7, 737-10, and 777-9. The company’s parallel work on a new narrow-body design suggests executives are looking for a long-term escape, already tapping a new senior product chief with experience in developing clean-sheet designs and starting to create a redesigned flight deck. The airplane is clearly in early-stage development, but Boeing has confirmed that its team is doing the typical pre-launch tasks: “evaluates the market, advances key technologies, and improves our financial performance”.

Especially with such intense scrutiny, Boeing is sure to take its time on perfecting its next big build… and with the current state of the supply chain, it won’t have much of a choice.

FMI: www.boeing.com