Boeing counting on new 737 MAX to bag orders worth $1 trillion

After all the initial reluctance to re-engine the iconic 737 Boeing Co is now counting on the 737 MAX, the re-engined version, to help it capture half of a $2 trillion market in the next 20 years. The MAX faces a formidable challenge from Airbus SAS which enterd the market with its re-engined version, the A320neo, much earlier than the MAX.

For Boeing, the 737 MAX has already won 496 firm orders. Deliveries are slated to begin in 2017, two years after Airbus's upgraded A320neo, Boeing said yesterday,

The announcement came after the board gave formal approval to the jet. The orders are spread among five different customers, the company said.

According to Boeing officials, fuel use on the 737 MAX will be 16 per cent less than the existing A320 and 4 per cent less than the A320neo. The plane will also be a bit more efficient than Bombardier Inc.'s new CSeries narrow-body jets.

The new engines on the MAX would be offered for the current models, the 737-700, -800 and -900, to be renamed the -7, -8 and -9.

A fleet of 100 737 MAX-8s would save an airline about $85 million in fuel a year compared with the 737-800, according to the company.