[ConservativeStatement]

Airbus must be baffled at this stage. Boeing's rollin', up more than two points today.

[steveegg]

That would be Airbust :-)

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

It will be interesting to see if their new airplane will have the same nose and fuselage cross section as the current 737 (which goes all the way back to the 707, and I guess, the 367-80).

[MikeD]

Yikes, what will SWA do without new 737s? Nice to see Boeing still remembers that many customers fly mid-size jets. I wonder if they'll next work on a competitor to the CRJ?

[HHKrepublican_2]

Is there any sort of tax break or incentive to American based Airlines that buy boeing

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Boeing hit it out of the park with the 737.Why change it. Its mission has not changed and midsized carriers will continue to purchase this plane because of its versatility. Damn hard to beat. get that airburst?

[pabianice]

The 737 family covers the 110- to 200-seat range and is the most popular commercial plane ever with more than 5,000 produced in nearly four decades.

Another moron who shouldn't be writing aviation stories. Over 13,000 DC-3s were produced, just to name one.

[Paleo Conservative]

If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.

[Fast Ed97]

As a frequent flyer..I wish Boeing would find a similar replacement for the MD-80. Cool looking planes...plus the seat configuration gives you less of a chance getting one of those horrid middle seats on the 737.

It's also a shame there is not more 717's being produced. Much rather fly in one of those than an RJ. I am sure Northwest would replace their DC-9's.

[RayChuang88]

I think the reason why Boeing is looking at two succesors to the 737 is the fact it appears Pratt & Whitney may have finally successfully developed the so-called geared-drive turbofan, which offers substantial fuel savings over conventional high-bypass turbofans. We could see Boeing offer a new, smaller 100-125 seat airliner with a really radical design (with the geared-drive turbofans mounted on the back of the fuselage for noise-abatement reasons) that will also offer good short-field landing/takeoff ability; such a plane would not only sell well in the USA but also be especially popular in Asia and Africa, where airports with shorter runways are far more common.