Boeing се размърдаха. Очевидно са притеснени от 320neo
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-1 ... order.html
Boeing Plans to Decide on New 737 Engine by Midyear
By Gopal Ratnam and Susanna Ray - Jan 13, 2011 3:44 AM GMT+0200
Boeing Co. said it will decide by midyear whether to offer a new engine for its top-selling 737 or wait to develop a replacement plane, after Airbus SAS unveiled a record order this week for its redesigned A320 model.
“We have had a very difficult time making a compelling business case for why we should re-engine,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Jim Albaugh said yesterday in an interview in Washington. “We continue to study the subject and we’ll announce our decision sometime in the middle of this year.”
Airbus, Boeing’s only larger commercial rival, won a record preliminary order valued at $15 billion at list prices from Indian low-fare carrier IndiGo Airlines on Jan. 11. IndiGo’s plan to buy 180 A320s includes 150 of the model that will be equipped with new engines.
Airbus’s Dec. 1 decision to build that plane focused analysts’ attention on how Chicago-based Boeing would respond. Success in selling narrow-body jets such as the 737 and A320 determines the industry’s pecking order because Airbus and Boeing derive most of their earnings from the planes.
Boeing has said it is capable of reworking the 737 to offer new, more efficient engines, while saying that the potential demand may not justify the investment. The company’s orders more than tripled in 2010, led by the 737, which features an upgraded interior and a package of improvements that will boost fuel efficiency by 2 percent.
‘New Engine Option’
Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, is redesigning its A320 rather than focusing on a successor that wouldn’t be ready until the middle of the next decade. The company said last month that airlines would be able to start taking deliveries in early 2016 for the jet it calls the A320neo, for “new engine option.”