Yet another aviation thread.

Quote: Nareed

BA is planning to add more seats on its short-haul flights, bringing pitch down to 29".

Ryanair has 30".

But wait! There's less!

Less cleaning.

No kidding. BA will attempt to perform less cleaning between flights, going so far as not emptying the sewage tanks if they're only 1/3 full, and not necessarily refilling the fresh water tanks, all in order to obtain a faster turnaround.

View from the Wing, an aviation blog, suggested tongue-in-cheek, that maybe BA will charge a cleaning fee to each passenger, or let them clean their own seat before deplaning instead.

Turnaround time is vital. Boarding in a random order is probably fastest. Japanese super trains board car cleaners immediately.

Qatar unveiled a new business class setup yesterday.

Such reports as I've read lack details, but it looks to be a rather different product than merely a revamped 1-2-1 lie-flat seat configuration.

I saw a good picture of the center seats. Like Singapore Air, they can form a double bed and have walls on the aisle sides to form a mini-suite. But also the screens can be moved, and apparently the walls between rows can be lowered. It's frustrating because the article showed the photo but said nothing about it. It looks like a mini-conference room in the air.

On other news, Boeing rolled out the first MAX9. A second test aircraft will follow shortly.

Meanwhile the MAX8 is done with the test campaign, and ought to receive certification by the FAA shortly. Two production models came out of the paint shop, too, once sporting a Southwest livery. It should enter into service in the second half of the year.

The first MAX7 is scheduled for next year for some reason (I mean, for some reason Boeing's proceeding with it).

Quote: Nareed

The first MAX7 is scheduled for next year for some reason (I mean, for some reason Boeing's proceeding with it).

As you know there has not been an order for over 2 years.
Dec 13, 2011 United States Southwest Airlines 30
Sep 26, 2013 Canada WestJet Airlines 25
Dec 15, 2014 Canada Canada Jetlines 5

Boeing has decided not to give up on the design.
At the Farnborough Air Show in July 2016, Boeing announced the redesign of the MAX 7 derived from the MAX 8, accommodating two more seat rows than the 737-700 for 138 seats, up 12 seats. The redesign uses the 737-8 wing and landing gear; a pair of overwing exits rather than the single-door configuration; a 46-inch-longer aft fuselage and a 30-inch-longer forward fuselage; structural re-gauging and strengthening; and systems and interior modifications to accommodate the longer length.

Quote: Pacomartin

Boeing has decided not to give up on the design.

I noticed airbus did not offer and A318neo.

On the other hand, a chart I saw yesterday put the MAX7 as the one with the longest range.

And on the gripping hand, C Series.

At one point you trust Boeing to know what's good for Boeing. But it's hard to believe the MAX7 is it.

Isaac Asimov famously said the most exciting words heralding scientific discoveries were not "Eureka!" but rather "Now, that's funny." When the Higgs Boson was detected, there was a combination of both. On the one hand at long last the missing particle in the standard model was proved to exist, but it also presented oddities not anticipated by theory.

So "Eureka! That's Funny!"

I mention this because I've long said Boeing (and Airbus too) ought to develop a new narrow body design. I've also long said each time they get around to one, they modify the B737 instead.

Two announcements from Boeing came close together. One is a clean-slate design being bandied about, putatively the 797. This would be a 757/767 replacement, twin aisles but small.

The other announcement is a mod for the 737 MAX, the MAX 10X, a stretched MAX 9 the better to compete with the A321.

So "New plane! Another 737 mod!"

The good news is Boeing is proposing a twin-aisle plane. That's a relief. Lately the race seemed to be for ever longer single aisle planes. Come one, the MAX 10X will carry as many as 230 passengers. The A321 hovers around that many. That's a lot of people for one aisle. Imagine being near the middle, at the prized exit row, for instance, while the drink/snack service is on and you need to use the lav.

Details are few, which is normal for an early design, but it's safe to assume composite construction, like the 787, with large windows, like the 787, and higher cabin pressure and humidity, like the 787.

Hm.

Quote: Nareed

The other announcement is a mod for the 737 MAX, the MAX 10X, a stretched MAX 9 the better to compete with the A321.

According to Wikipedia

A simpler, lower-risk derivative of the 9 Max would be a modest stretch of 66" seating 12-18 more passengers needing an uprated 140 kN CFM LEAP-1B that could be available by 2019 or 2020 and would likely require a simple landing gear modification to move the rotation point slightly aft.

The current LEAP 1B is 100–120 kN.

The neoA321 LEAP variant is 156 kN and has a fan diameter of 78" in vs 69.4" for the B737Max. That advantage of 8.6" is massive.

AFAIK the final specifications are not developed yet for the MAX-10X.

Obviously the neoA320-A321 is killing Boeing on orders.

55: 737 MAX 7 variant.
1,919: 737 MAX 8 variant.
418: 737 MAX 9 variant
679: 737 MAX unspecified

55: A319neo
3,624: A320neo
1,384: A321neo
5,063 total orders

Quote: Pacomartin

Obviously the neoA320-A321 is killing Boeing on orders.

Either Airbus is very lucky, or Boeing failed to anticipate market needs better.

Or maybe an airframe over 50 years old is showing its age.

Not that Airbus is much better. The A320 is a design with over three decades of age.

But in the meantime both have kept on developing new wide body planes in subsequent decades. Imagine if Boeing had simply kept updating the 767, or Airbus the A310, for 30+ years. Instead we had the A330, A340, B777, A380, B787, and A350. Also in the meantime, regional jets outgrew the regional part.

Quote: Nareed

Or maybe an airframe over 50 years old is showing its age.

Not that Airbus is much better. The A320 is a design with over three decades of age.

The first member of the A320 family—the A320—was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was first delivered in March 1988.

Prompted by the development of the Airbus A320, which incorporated ground-breaking technologies such as fly-by-wire, in 1991 Boeing initiated development of an updated series of aircraft. After working with potential customers, the 737 Next Generation (NG) program was announced on November 17, 1993. The 737NG encompasses the −600, −700, −800 and −900 variants, and is to date the most significant upgrade of the airframe.

Eventually the larger fan diameter will overshadow everything else.

Quote: Pacomartin

Prompted by the development of the Airbus A320, which incorporated ground-breaking technologies such as fly-by-wire, in 1991 Boeing initiated development of an updated series of aircraft.

They seem to be playing catch-up with Airbus. The MAX was, in part, a response to the neo, though this time before the Airbus product launched.

I know there isn't much to do regarding narrow body aircraft's basics. It's not as though either of the main companies will think up a tri-jet or something. But with the use these planes get, composites, lower-altitude pressurization and other innovations found on the 787 and A350 ought to be incorporated to the former. And that's easier to do with a new design.