Hyperdrive

Boeing Hints New Jet It’s Testing With NASA Could Replace 737 Max

  • CEO says there’s ‘real intent’ to commercialize the plane
  • Boeing last year said no plan for new jetliner this decade
A rendering of a Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) demonstrator airplane.Source: Boeing
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Boeing Co. is studying whether an innovative plane it’s developing with NASA could find a home in its lineup next decade, the company’s top executive said, offering a tantalizing glimpse into its product strategy.

Later this decade, the US planemaker plans to fly a full-scale prototype of the single-aisle jet, whose size could make it an eventual successor to the 737 Max. Boeing and NASA have been working on a concept for nearly 15 years that reduces drag — and fuel burn — with extra-long, thin wings that are stabilized by diagonal struts attached to the bottom of the plane’s fuselage.