Boeing Begins Work On Its Next Aircraft

Boeing has begun formal work on its next commercial aircraft; however, it’s keeping its cards close to its chest and looking to stabilize elsewhere.

Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg, who has been tasked with turning around what was once a sinking ship, has now made it clear that, despite progress, a formal launch will have to wait until the finances and factories are on firmer footing.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal ahead of the Farnborough Airshow, Ortberg said that Boeing is currently spending time and money on a new airplane design, the successor to the 737 MAX.

However, while there has been work, the immediate priority is to catch up on the delivery of long-delayed products and to stabilise the business that has struggled throughout the 2020s.

A New Jet Is Coming, Just Not Quite Yet

The Wall Street Journal’s reporting highlights earlier coverage that Boeing has begun work on its new plane, making it clear that the next jet isn’t just a mere rumour but is being actively invested in financially and in terms of resources.

The early flight deck layouts and trade studies are ongoing to compare different configurations against a baseline. Ortberg told the paper that engineers were actively evaluating studies and tweaking assumptions about the wings, engines, cabin size and performance.

As part of the evaluations, Boeing can understand how various options stack up; as a consequence, a firm configuration has not been decided, and thus nothing is final. According to many, the likelihood that this will be a successor to the 737 MAX is high.

Behind the scenes, Boeing has also begun holding talks with engine makers, including Rolls-Royce in the UK, as part of exploratory due diligence regarding the power plants for the next generation of narrowbody aircraft.

The goal is to make this plane a single-aisle aircraft capable of serving higher capacity than the 737 MAX, as airlines’ evolving needs shift and cramming more passengers onto aircraft becomes increasingly important.

With nothing final, the new clean-sheet would be, while a successor to the 737 MAX, a very likely step up from what is currently on the market and slot into the segment between the 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner.

The success of the Airbus A321neo and its derivatives, such as the A321XLR, has been a particular focus of these studies. Boeing’s rival has been able to stride ahead in recent years thanks to this model and the American planemakers’ many missteps. Now it’s focused on rebuilding and reclaiming ground in the next aircraft race.

Boeing’s Focus Is Elsewhere As Well

While Ortberg has confirmed that work has commenced on the next airplane, the focus isn’t strictly on its launch; many other priorities from a troublesome last decade cannot continue into the next.

The reality is that orders aren’t a problem either. Boeing sees a strong backlog, but it’s one it cannot service because regulators and its own workforce have been under pressure for years. The challenge is getting the planes delivered and working through the thousands of delayed jets, just like at Airbus.

Narrowbodies and widebodies are not spared, whether it’s the last remaining 737 MAX jets that need to be approved or the flagship 777X, which wasn’t brought to Farnborough for demonstration flights to advance FAA certification milestones; it has been challenging.

Currently, Ortberg’s role isn’t that of a chief salesman, but rather that of a head mechanic who focuses on fixing the long-standing systemic issues that have plagued the business and on ensuring that the next commercial jet and the next phase of growth are stable, safe, and profitable.

Not carrying over the many defects found on previous jets to the new commercial aircraft is important. For the moment, Boeing is now finally absorbing the billions in costs across all its divisions, whether the MAX, 787 or 777X, not forgetting the expensive and heavily delayed new Air Force One.

Ortberg has reaffirmed Boeing’s target to focus more heavily on the 2028 delivery goals, and launching a new programme too soon could stretch capital and engineering resources thin. This then poses a risk of a repeat of what it’s already experiencing: a clogged backlog, financial pressure, and safety woes.