Boeing will soon decide, probably within months, whether to go ahead with its long-planned New Middle-Market Airplane, designed to fit between the 737 and 787 and serve as a replacement for the hundreds of 757s and 767s retiring from the market over the next few years.
Commonly referred to as the 797, the plane would mean about a $15 billion investment. Boeing needs to assure itself that there's a big enough market for the plane, and that it wouldn't simply pull customers from its largest 737s and smaller 787s.
The plane, which might look like the mockup above, would have 220-270 seats and a flight range of about ten hours. It would be aimed at medium-range flights within countries or regions as well as some intercontinental routes, and could serve smaller cities where 350+ seat planes are too much for the business. Boeing has estimated there is a market for about 4,000 planes in the category.
Boeing has spent the past few years talking with airlines about the plane, getting their input on what they want the plane to do and whether they would buy it. There's been strong interest from at least one carrier in India's rapidly-expanding market, and David Neeleman of TAP and Azul, normally an Airbus fan, has expressed interest—but he's also pressing Airbus to come up with a version of its own.
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