Aircraft orders have been a few and far between Boeing (NYSE: BA) this year. And by the end of July, the 737 MAX family – which accounts for the vast majority of Boeing’s backlog, but 17 months is the basis after two fatal accidents – had not risen a single order by 2020.
That finally changed last week, as the aviation giant announced a small 737 MAX order from Enter Air, a Polish charter airline. Notably, the wording of the press release suggests that Boeing may be trying to gradually rebrand the 737 MAX family to address its bad reputation.
Finally a sale
During the announcement last Wednesday, Enter Air placed a firm order for two 737 MAX 8 jets, with options for two more. In combination with the purchase, Boeing agreed to revise the delivery schedule for jets that Enter Air already had on order. The agreement also specified the compensation that Enter Air will receive for covering costs and lost earnings related to the long-term 737 MAX basis.
This deal marked the first 737 MAX sale of 2020. That is a remarkable comment on the combined impact of the groundbreaking type and the COVID-19 pandemic on 737 MAX demand. Boeing had booked hundreds of firm orders for the 737 MAX year after year for most of the last decade.
The sale itself is not very important for Boeing. In the first seven months of 2020, the company’s commercial jet division booked just 59 new orders, offset by nearly 900 aircraft that were removed from the rear, either due to cancellations of orders or financial distress of the company. desired buyers. Two fixed orders and two options will not make a dent in the backlog erosion that Boeing has experienced this year.
Image source: Boeing.
What was more striking about the press release announcing the deal was that it looked like a subtle redesign of the 737 MAX family.
Remove the MAX from the 737 MAX
While Boeing’s order announcement used the term “737 MAX” several times, the title was “Enter Air into purchase to Four Boeing 737-8 Jets.” The aircraft model ordered was also described as the 737-8 at three different locations within the press release.
The designation 737-8 is not new. Internationally, Boeing has for many years named the variants of the 737 MAX as the 737-7, 737-8, and 737-9 (and more recently, 737-10), prior to the 737 MAX crashes. However, in previous announcements and other news reports, Boeing had consistently referred to those models as the 737 MAX 7, 737 MAX 8, 737 MAX 9, and 737 MAX 10.
In short, it seems that Boeing is finally coming up with the idea of rebuilding the 737 MAX, but in a very subtle way. For now, at least, it still uses the MAX designation to describe the aircraft family as a whole, while “MAX” is removed from the names of each individual model.
The right way to (possibly) rebrand
The idea to upgrade the 737 MAX is not new. Indeed, last April – just a month after the second fatal 737 MAX crash, President Donald Trump tweeted that Boeing would redesign the 737 MAX “with a new name”, once it had settled the adultery family.
However, introducing a completely new name would have been dangerous. Dramatic change of name into something like Boeing 838 could have caused Boeing to try to cover what it sold. Other companies have come a long way here, but Boeing’s position as one of the most prominent industrial companies in the US and the widely reported problems with the 737 MAX would make it difficult to slip this kind of fat rebranding past consumers.
In contrast, the failure of “MAX” of the individual model names is more likely. It does not look like Boeing is trying to pull a trick on the flying public, but it does claim the 737 MAX as an aircraft family distinguished from the previous generation 737-700, 737-800 and 737-900ER jets that have served safely all over the world for many years.
Back in January, Steven Udvar-Hazy – widely regarded as the inventor of the aircraft leasing sector – urged Boeing to make just this change to its naming scheme. It seems that Boeing is taking its advice, renaming the 737 MAX in an attempt to preserve it.
