Southwest Airlines on Dec. 13, 2011 became the launch customer for the Boeing 737 MAX by placing a firm order for 150 airplanes.
The delivery of the first of 737MAX is planned for 2017.
Southwest's choice is not a surprise for a 100% boeing fleet operator.
As Boeing CEO Jim Albaugh said: "Throughout our 40-year relationship, our two companies have collaborated to launch the 737-300, 737-500 and the Next-Generation 737-700 – affirming the 737 as the world's preferred single-aisle airplane. As launch customer for the 737 MAX, Southwest, Boeing and the 737 continue that legacy."
The new aircraft will be powered by CFM International LEAP-1B engines.
Jon Ostrower provided its point of view concerning oversupplying the narrowboby market and the various announcements done by Airbus and Boeing this year. We should keep it in mind, following the giant orders of Lion Air, Air Asia or AA.
>>>
Airbus is heading to 42 A320s per month by the end of 2012 with Boeing announcing today it will follow suit with 42 737s in the first half of 2014. That means 84 narrowbody aircraft per month will be delivered with more than 1000 new narrowbody aircraft per year by the middle of decade.
Boeing forecasts a need for 21,160 narrowbody aircraft over the next 20 years. Assuming no new competitors, split between Boeing and Airbus equally, that figure should yield 44.5 deliveries per month to meet market demand. Airbus's 20 year (2010-2029) Global Market Forecast sees 17,870 narrowbody aircraft being delivered, corresponding to a 50-50 market split with Boeing at 37 deliveries per month.
The Boeing and Airbus definition of narrowbody is an aircraft 100 to 210-seats with a single aisle, which neither airframer covers this full spread in its current product line. This spans from the Embraer E-190 and E-195 all the way up to the Boeing 737-900ER, 757 and Airbus A321.
These rates assume that Bombardier's CRJ1000, CS100, C300, Comac's C919 and ARJ900, Irkut's MS-21, Mitsubishi's conceptual MRJ100X and Embraer's E-190/195 and clean sheet jet will only deliver - at most - an additional 5 aircraft per month against the 42 aircraft per month from Boeing and Airbus.
The 2011-2030 figures from Boeing will revise this figures upward again, and will be released at the week's end ahead of the Paris air show, but the assurances of sustainability at the beginning of this industry up cycle are far guaranteed. Airframer's lament the commoditization of narrowbody aircraft, creating a crop of amorphous and indistinguishable products, a trend likely reinforced by an oversupply of aircraft.
The sustainability of these rate increases will be a central question in the coming years, and with the certainty of the industry's exogenous events to try and throw it off course, the huge output growth decisions of Boeing and Airbus will guide the fortunes of the industry.
