Delta’s CEO Expects Boeing Will Go Ahead and Build the ‘797’
- Airline sees need for new jetliner to replace midrange planes
- Planemaker delayed decision while focusing on 737 Max crisis
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Delta Air Lines Inc. is still holding out hope that Boeing Co. will move ahead with a new midrange jetliner whose fate remains in limbo while the planemaker focuses on the crisis engulfing its grounded 737 Max.
The carrier’s chief executive officer dangled a possible reward to Boeing for proceeding with an aircraft that would be tailored for flights of about 5,000 nautical miles: potentially hundreds of jet sales. The proposed two-model family is known within Boeing as the NMA, for new midmarket airplane, while some analysts have dubbed it the 797.