Boeing New Midsize Airplane
By February 2021, the company appeared to have revived the project with plans for a shorter variant that could enter service by the late 2020s with a development cost of up to $25 billion.
[3] At the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading conference, he predicted it would be a Boeing 767-like, twin-aisle airplane capable of using 7,000-foot (2,130 m) runways such as those at New York LaGuardia.
[7] Vinay Bhaskara of Airways News said Boeing's middle of the market (MOM) airliner would likely launch before 2020 and enter service in the early part of the following decade.
[13] It identified the market "sweet spot" for the NMA as being a 200 to 250-seat twin-aisle aircraft with more than 4,000 nmi (7,400 km) range, but less expensive to operate than existing small twin aisles.
[14] At the March 2017 ISTAT Americas conference, United Airlines' interest in the NMA was confirmed by chief financial officer Andrew Levy, who corroborated the assumption that it would be a twin-aisle aircraft[15] with two variants, carrying 225 to 260 passengers with a range of 4,800 to 5,200 nmi (8,900 to 9,600 km).
[18] The market favors single-aisle economics, and Boeing's challenge would be to achieve comparable hourly cost and price per seat while keeping twin-aisle capabilities.
[21] Boeing relies on model-based systems engineering (MBSE), already used in its defense and space businesses, to define customer needs and functionality early in the aircraft design process with an interdisciplinary approach.
[22] At the June 2017 Paris Air Show, Boeing's aircraft development manager Mike Delaney confirmed the use of composites for the whole airframe, which would have a hybrid cross-section and bypass ratios above 10:1.
[24] With the NMA planned for introduction no earlier than 2025, and the 787 being much larger, Boeing could conceivably restart passenger 767-300ER production to bridge the gap,[25] with potential demand for 50 to 60 aircraft.
[26] In September, Boeing created a development program office, and in November named their company veteran and 777X chief project engineer Terry Beezhold, without a role yet.
[44] The conceptual design released in early 2018 had a 737 MAX-style tail cone, large 787/777X-sized cabin windows, a 757/767/777-style windscreen, a 767-200 door arrangement and short engine inlets.
[46] As recent all-new designs took between 88 and 101 months (7.3 to 8.4 years) between the authority to offer and the introduction, late 2018 to early 2019 launch would have implied a 2026 service entry.
[50] According to the French National Aerospace Research Center, ONERA, a cylindrical seven or eight-abreast twin-aisle has 20% more fuselage drag in cruise than a six-abreast, single-aisle airplane of the same seat capacity.
[52] Boeing's Randy Tinseth stated an almost unanimous preference for better economics through weight savings rather than the heavier structure to carry widebody containers.
[63] In July 2019, Boeing stated that its priority was the safe return to service of the grounded 737 MAX, and that the decision to launch the NMA would depend partly on its confidence in the tools it intends to implement in order to improve development program performance.
Analysts Richard Aboulafia and Rob Morris both believed that, although it would be a strong contender to replace the 767, the chances of a wide-body NMA being launched were diminishing in favour of a narrow-body aircraft that would compete more directly with the A321XLR.
[69] On 22 January 2020, Boeing's new chief executive David Calhoun announced a clean sheet reevaluation of the project, as the company focused on existing products and the market shifted away after Airbus launched the popular A321XLR in 2019.
The delay to the NMA launch had already put a key part of the target market at risk for Boeing, particularly after Airbus won contracts with two major U.S. airlines.
[73] A smaller 225-seat variant of the previous NMA twin-aisle design with composite wings and fuselage, it would reuse existing structures, systems and engine technology to target production costs comparable to single-aisle aircraft.
[73] It would be powered by derated versions of the higher-bypass ratio 50,000 lbf (220 kN) engines proposed by CFM International and by Pratt & Whitney, while Rolls-Royce plc may be able to reconsider its withdrawal from bidding.
[73] Analysts estimate that narrow-body aircraft will account for around 70% of sales by 2025, and believe a clean-sheet NMA to be essential for Boeing to avoid losing market share to Airbus, and to the A321neo in particular.
[77] The 45,000 lbf (200 kN) thrust was typical of the 1960s' first generation of high-bypass-ratio turbofans: the GE CF6 for Douglas DC-10, the Rolls RB211 for Lockheed Tristar, and the Pratt & Whitney JT9D for Boeing 747.
Rolls could propose its UltraFan development, a geared turbofan based its new Advance core, but it is primarily focused on its larger, 100,000 lbf (440 kN) engine.
The GTF cost more than $10 billion to develop, and Rolls is facing financial difficulties which could be accelerated by being left out of the EU Clean Sky initiative as a result of Brexit.
Both could join together, but have historically been moving in the opposite direction, as Rolls sold its 32.5% stake in International Aero Engines to Pratt parent United Technologies in 2011, essentially selling the ghost of the geared IAE SuperFan proposed for the A340 (supplanted in 1987 by the CFM56).
Even if its thrust crept to 52,000 lbf (230 kN), GE and Safran will bid through their CFM joint venture with a 3D-woven-resin transfer molding fan like the Leap instead of a GEnx/GE9X-type carbon-fiber composite.
