Don’t expect any big news at Paris from either Airbus or Boeing on their plans to replace the best-selling A320 or 737 families.
The consensus of opinion from airlines is that the first next-generation narrowbodies to succeed these “extraordinarily efficient” aircraft will be around 2015. “We are just not there yet” when it comes to bringing together the design, technology and manufacturing expertise to produce a new aircraft that offers the quantum leap needed to justify replacing the current models, says Boeing’s Randy Tinseth.
“The time will come when the time comes,” he says, adding this will most likely be “around the middle of the next decade. The question is will the technologies come forward?”
Source: Flight Daily News
