EADS CEO Louis Gallois is skeptical about the merits of Boeing’s proposed all-new 737 successor; in his view, the fully electric architecture does not add much value for a short-haul aircraft.
“We have seen the huge difficulties Boeing has had with this on the 787,” he said at an annual EADS media briefing in Munich. Gallois also questions the degree to which Boeing will benefit by using composites in the narrowbody segment. “They will have the same engine as we have so all the improvement will have to come from the aircraft,” he said. Composites “have limited value on short-range aircraft,” he argued.
With its public statements, Boeing is just testing to see how the market will react, Gallois claims. The proposed aircraft “is a balloon, we will see if other balloons will follow,” he said. In his view, re-engining the Airbus A320 was the best option for Airbus, as it required only 10% of the investment needed for a new aircraft. That decision was supported by Tuesday’s order from ILFC for 100 A320/321 NEOs.
Boeing has been saying that it will decide by mid-year about whether or not it will launch an all-new 737 replacement to enter service around 2020. Boeing executives have said they don’t see a business case and have experienced poor market response for re-engining the 737.
By Jens Flottau, Munich