Boeing quietly unveiled its 737 Max 10 on Friday, even as the future of 737 MAX program remains up in the air.
Debuting at an employee event in Renton, Washington, the new aircraft will be the largest 737 Max of the family. In a two-class configuration, the Max 10 can fit between 188 and 204 passengers. Meanwhile, the Max 8 fits between 162 and 178. It will have a range of 3,300 nautical miles, a range only 50 miles less than the Max 9. Boeing first announced the aircraft at the Paris Airshow in 2017, but yesterday revealed the first flight-test Max 10.
Boeing has more 531 orders on the book for the 737 Max 10, which is just a small fraction of its 4,400 order backlog for the 737 MAX program. It hopes that the Max 10 will compete with the Airbus A321neo, though the A321neo is a more versatile aircraft with more capacity (244 passengers) and range (4,000 nautical miles) while maintaining similar economics. Airbus has already racked up 3,142 orders for the A321neo.
Nevertheless, Boeing claims the Max 10 “offers the lowest seat-mile cost of any single-aisle airplane ever produced”.
As airlines continue to extend 737 MAX cancellations, Boeing is finalizing a software fix for a flaw that played a role in two deadly crashes within five months of each other, one on Lion Air and the other on Ethiopian Airlines. 346 lives were lost on those two flights. It is still not clear whether regulators will accept what amounts to a bandaid fix.
CONCLUSION
Mark Jenks, Vice President of the 737 program, said:
Today is not just about a new airplane. It’s about the people who design, build and support it. This team’s relentless focus on safety and quality shows the commitment we have to our airline customers and every person who flies on a Boeing airplane.
Boeing was smart not to make a big deal about its 737 Max 10. As the timeline for restoring this aircraft to service remains questionable, this was not the time to celebrate.
> Read More: American Airlines Flight Attendants Refuse to Fly the 737 MAX, Southwest Pilots Sue Because They Can’t
image: Boeing
One would think that extending an already failed design in order to squeeze in a few more seats is not the smartest way to come up with a competitive and airworthy design.
It likely needs a few more lines of software now to prevent the thing form dropping out of the sky.
Hmm, an even bigger Death Jet.
I look forward to them all being scrapped rather than returned to the air.
The problem was when the 737-300 was being designed, they should have bit the bullet and designed a much taller landing gear. It would have paid off when you see the thousands of 737-300/400/500/600/700/800/900 / 900ER/ MAX 8 / MAX 9 aircraft built.
That “lowest seat-mile cost” claim – is that before or after you factor in the cost of settling the lawsuits brought by the passengers’ families? Boeing’s nickname for the 737 max should be the Greedliner.
Little Fan Fare , what do you expect?
It was unveiled at the Boeing facility and only the factory workers where allowed to view…
Interesting…. Will any flight authority allow it to fly their skies?