Newer Engines For 737NG Would Be Good News, Bad News For Renton Plant

Industry analysts says Boeing may be taking the success of its popular 737NG too much for granted, and that the recent surge in sales for the Airbus A320neo (as in "new engine option") may force the US manufacturer to change its product development strategy.

Airbus A320neo

Boeing has announced plans to increase 737NG production from the current 31.5 planes per month to 42 per month by 2014, as it works on a complete redesign of the plane for increased efficiency. Airbus has responded with new engine options for its single-aisle A320 as an incremental redesign step to increase fuel efficiency, and was rewarded with 660 orders for the A320neo at this year's Paris Air Show.

Boeing 737NGs

Boeing's strategy would be to wind up with an aircraft which jumps ahead of the A320neo in efficiency, but it's not clear customers will wait. American Airlines, which has bought only Boeing planes for 15 years, is said to be considering its options. Even Southwest Airlines, which has built a fleet based solely on the 737 to increase training and maintenance efficiency, has hinted it could look at Airbus in future purchases.

Re-engining the 737NG could be complicated. Boeing's plane carries its under-wing engines so low that the bottoms of the nacelles (shown above) had to be visibly flattened in the final design to provide adequate ground clearance. But analyst Scott Hamilton recently commented that Boeing and engine manufacturer CFM have found a way to make newer engine technology work under the 737's wing, and estimated that would save up to 20 percent on development of a re-engined 737NG.

The Puget Sound Business Journal quotes widely-followed analyst Richard Aboulafia with this bit of advice: "Assuming it’s technically feasible, Boeing should offer a 737 Neo, fast."

The journal also points out that re-engining the existing 737NG would guarantee work for Boeing's plant in Renton, Washington for a few more years, but would also require a new plant for the new version to follow. Given Boeing's recent expansion in South Carolina, there's no guarantee that Boeing's best-selling plane ever would remain a product of the Pacific Northwest.

FMI: http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&ID=B818B9F8-00B7-473F-AFFD-AFF7225735BC