Aviation News Item: 05079

12th Feb 2010

Source: ubmaviationnews.com

Boeing will decide this year whether to re-engine the 737, Jim McNerney, CEO, said at the aerospace conference of the investment firm Cowen and Company in New York yesterday (February 11). The move would be influenced by Airbus' decision whether to equip its A320-family with new engines, which the European airframer wants to make before the Farnborough air show in June. However, the main question remains whether new engines would achieve sufficient productivity and performance gains that warrant the upgrade, McNerney explained. Boeing is targeting a productivity increase between 12 and 15 per cent. If this was not possible, a re-engined 737 would only jeopardise sales of the current version, he said. The company is considering new engine proposals from CFM International, Pratt & Whitney (P&W) and Rolls-Royce. It is understood Boeing might depart from its policy to equip the aircraft with engines from just one OEM. Thus far all 737 versions have been offered with engines from one source; initially P&W and, since 1984, CFM.

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