Boeing is playing up the sales prospects of its proposed new mid-market airplane (NMA) in Asia-Pacific and China, although the manufacturer will still not be drawn on a launch date.
Speaking at the Singapore Air Show this week, Boeing SVP Asia-Pacific & India sales Dinesh Keskar said that the way some airlines in the region were using the Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody on longer routes illustrated the potential of the NMA.
After several iterations, Boeing has provisionally defined two main NMA versions: a 225-seat model with a 5,000 nm. range, and a larger 275-seater with a range of around 4,500 nm.
“It’s going to have a range which is much better than we have today with the MAX family – and one of the biggest markets in this part of the world is going to be China. Everybody is trying to access China from various points,” Keskar said.
He also noted that Indonesia’s Lion Air is using its MAX 8s on longer range routes such as Indonesia to Saudi Arabia. “If you see the application of the MAX 8, then you can see how an airplane like NMA will be used on routes like this. But the biggest thing is that it will have even better seat mile costs and it will come in the middle of the next decade,” he said.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, speaking at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit ahead of the air show, said the NMA would be attractive for Australian domestic routes. Joyce said he expected average aircraft size to increase as many of the country’s key airports become slot constraint and routes such as Sydney-Melbourne are already served with extremely high frequency.
Qantas would want the NMA to enable it to retain its current 35 minute turnarounds and Joyce expects the aircraft will meet that target if it is a twin-aisle that allows speedy boarding and deplaning of passengers. Qantas is more interested in operational efficiency than range, but would also look potentially at using it on the Sydney-Singapore route, which exceeds eight hours of flight time. Sydney-Bali is another high-density leisure market with potential for the NMA.
Qantas has 54 Airbus A320neos and 45 A321neos on firm order, none of which have been delivered. Joyce is concerned that turn-around times would be too long if Airbus stretched the A321neo further to offer a bigger competitor to the NMA. The A321neo currently carries up to 240 passengers, although Airbus is working to increase that to at least 244.
The business case for a larger A321neo may still make sense for Qantas if longer ground times are offset by lower acquisition costs, Joyce noted.
Boeing’s Keskar would not be drawn on whether the NMA might be launched this year, possibly around the Farnborough Airshow in July, or even if the company board would give authority to offer the new model--the usual prelude to a formal launch--later this year. Sources within the company indicate such a move remains distant because Boeing’s product development team has yet to finalize even a preliminary business case proposal for submission to the board.
But GE Aviation general manager global sales & marketing Chaker Chahrour said he expects Boeing to launch NMA this year. “If this is an airplane that wants to enter revenue service in the 2025 timeframe, then we expect there’s going to be a decision made some time this year,” he said.
He expects GE’s CFM International joint venture with Safran to build the engine, the initial version of which is expected to be just below the 50,000lb thrust limit that applies to the CFM joint venture contract.
Jens Flottau/Aviation Week jens.flottau@aviationweek.com
Guy Norris/Aviation Week guy.norris@aviationweek.com
