Page 5 - AAA MARCH - APRIL 2018 Online Magazine

The aviation industry is waiting and watching
for Boeing’s proposed midsize airplane

WAITING FOR MAGIC

Geoffrey Thomas

inally, with Boeing’s pro- Terry Beezhold, to join another connected and could be served
posed two class 225-275 Boeing guru Mark Jenks, on the economically with the 797. “It is
seat Boeing 797 there programme signaling that it is going to have a range which is
Fwill be an aircraft that all very serious about the aircraft. much better than we have today
passengers are going to love but Beezhold has had lead roles in the with the 737 MAX.” Keskar sees
will they love it enough to perhaps 787 and was project engineer on the 797 as a China machine.
pay a bit more to fly on it. That is the ultra-long-range 777X, which
the vexing question that Boeing will fly next year. No pressure “Everyone wants to access
and airline executives are mulling but airlines across the globe and China from various points
as momentum builds for a launch frequent flyers are watching and and this NMA will have better
of what the Seattle manufacturer waiting to see what magic the two seat mile costs.”
calls the New Midsize Airplane or Boeing whiz kids can weave. And
the 797. one of the areas where the inter- Keskar noted than many airlines
est is greatest is in Asia because in Asia are using 737 MAX
The Right Fit the 797 would be perfect for aircraft for very long-range
The challenge right now is clear: the region, says Dinesh Keskar, missions [for the 737] such as
Passengers and airlines want the Boeing senior vice president of Indonesia to Saudi Arabia.
twin-aisle 2-3-2 (Y) aircraft opti- Asia Pacific and India sales. “This
mised for medium haul routes but NMA has attracted just about “If you see the application of
the MAX 8 then you can see
can Boeing build it competitively every airline we have talked to how an airplane like NMA
against a possible A321 stretch? because it is going to be in a size [797] will be used on routes
The 797 will be a revolution- that they like,” Keskar told media like this.” “It is going to
ary aircraft made of composite at the recent Singapore Air Show. have more reliability, better
material like the 787 and it will Coming in two versions the 797 economics and everybody
be able to economically connect will seat either 225 with a 5,000 is interested in both the size
thousands of city pairs with new nm range, or 275 with a range of and range of this airplane.”
non-stop routes. Recently, Boeing 4,500 nm. Boeing says that there
moved one of its top engineers are 30,000 city pairs that are not

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