It is a stunning announcement. Not so much the buyout of Rolls-Royce by Pratt & Whitney from the International Aero Engines partnership. This has been expected for more than a year.
What’s stunning in the new partnership RR and PW announced to develop engines in the 120-230 seat market and to focus on Geared Turbo Fan technology.
AirInsight has a commentary on the tie-up.
This is a major shift in the engine competition and a major endorsement of the GTF engine and techn0logy, creating a more formidable competitor to the dominate CFM International.
We’ll have more to say after we digest this a bit and talk with the market.
Here is Flight Global’s story with a couple of artist renderings of the airplane.
Boeing made it official this morning: launch of the 737NE (New Engine) has been approved, bypassing the Authority to Offer.
Boeing said it has commitments for 496 NEs from five airlines. Only American Airlines has been announced, for 100. We expect Southwest Airlines to be another. Delta Air Lines’ order for 100 737-900ERs did not include conversion rights.
Boeing claims the 737NE will be 7% more efficient operating costs than the A320neo, but in its announcement today did not detail how. Boeing also says the 737NE will have 16% lower fuel burn than today’s A320 and 4% lower than the neo.
Update, 930am: The Daily Express of L0ndon (of all places) reported yesterday BCA got the approval Friday for the 737RE and that the announcement is to come today. Thanks to Heidi Wood of Morgan Stanley for this one.
Original Post:
Approval for Authority to Offer the 737 re-engine is expected to come from the Boeing Board of Directors today, according to sources.
Last Friday we published our story reporting this in Commercial Aviation Online in London and, per our arrangement with CAO, the following day on this site.
Bloomberg News published this story later on Friday also confirming ATO was expected.
Official launch of the airplane isn’t expected until fall, likely after the October Board meeting, predicts Credit Suisse.
Full design definition of the 737RE isn’t expected until next month, we are told. While it is widely expected that the CFM LEAP engine will have a 66-inch fan in order to avoid any changes to the landing gear that would complicate the work statement, as of today this isn’t definitively settled. A 68 inch fan is still a possibility, though it’s considered more remote.
Odds and Ends at the Paris Air Show, Day 3