Why do airlines love the Boeing 737 Max? In a word: money.
This is a plane that promised to cut fuel and maintenance bills, fly further and cram in more passengers – manna to airline executives and shareholders.
More than 5,000 of the new Max planes have been ordered, mostly the Max 8 iteration, allowing Boeing to maintain the 737’s historic chart-topping sales in the face of competition from the Airbus A320 family’s latest “neo” planes.
While both manufacturers have launched more daring ventures with greater fanfare and mixed fortunes – Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and the A380 superjumbo from Airbus – the Max was something else: a plane that didn’t rip up the model, but more or less matched the familiar, shorthaul workhorse. It replicated what airlines had already got, only better, lighter, and cheaper to fuel and maintain.
Buyers queued from every continent. In the UK, even the doomed Monarch ordered dozens, though the airline couldn’t quite hang on long enough to reap the forecasted annual savings of up to £3m a plane.
At a relatively affordable price, the Max – a single-aisle plane – had a flying range that opened up the possibility of using it on long-haul corridors traditionally the preserve of wide-body jetliners – an opportunity taken by Norwegian to fly new routes across the Atlantic.
(May 22, 2017) Boeing 737 Max enters commercial service
The first Boeing 737 Max begins commercial operations with Malindo Air. Norwegian Air is also an early adopter of the new model, operating transatlantic flights. The model promises fuel efficiencies attractive to carriers.
(October 29, 2018) Lion Air crash
Lion Air flight JT610 crashes after making a sudden, sharp dive into the Java Sea 13 minutes after departing from Jakarta, Indonesia. All 189 people onboard are killed. That particular plane had been in use for less than three months. The plane's black box recorder reveals that the Lion Air plane had experienced problems with its airspeed indicators on its last four flights.
(November 7, 2018) Boeing's new advice
Boeing issues revised instructions on how pilots should react to erroneous readings from “angle of attack” sensors, believed to be a key factor in the Lion Air crash.
(March 10, 2019) Ethiopia Airlines crash
Flight ET302 crashes about six minutes after taking off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people onboard. The captain had reported difficulties, and flight radar data shows the aircraft was climbing erratically with an unstable vertical airspeed.
(March 13, 2019) Boeing grounds fleet
The EU, Canada and the US all ground the Boeing 737 Max. Boeing itself issues a statement saying it “continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 Max”, but that “out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public” it w recommending the grounding of the entire global fleet of 371 aircraft.
(April 4, 2019) Interim report findings
The interim report into the Ethiopian Airlines crash finds that the pilots correctly followed Boeing’s emergency instructions, but were still unable to stop the plane’s nose repeatedly pointing down. The jet hit an airspeed of 500 knots (575mph), well above its operational limits, before cockpit data recordings stopped.
(June 27, 2019) A new potential risk
Airlines extend their ban on using the Boeing 737 Max after the US aviation regulator said it had identified a new potential risk with the plane.
(July 10, 2019) Airbus soars
In the wake of Boeing’s troubles, Airbus seems set to overtake it as the world's biggest planemaker. As Boeing reported 239 commercial plane deliveries in the first half of the year, a 37% fall, rival Airbus shipped 389 deliveries, up 28% on the same period last year.
(July 15, 2019) Name change rumours
Pictures emerge of a Boeing 737 Max due to be delivered to Ryanair with the name 737 Max replaced by 737-8200 on the nose.
(October 30, 2019) Sensor concerns ignored
During congressional hearings into Boeing’s handling of the crisis, lawmakers were shown internal records revealing that three years before the crashes an employee had expressed concern that an anti-stall flight system could be triggered by a single sensor.
(January 10, 2020)
The crisis deepens with the release of hundreds of internal messages between employees working on the 737 Max aircraft, which boasted of deceiving safety regulators and said the plane had been “designed by clowns”.
(February 19, 2020)
Boeing orders inspections of its entire fleet of grounded 737 Max planes after it found foreign object debris in the fuel tanks of some of the mothballed planes.
For most, though, the ambition was purely economic. Speculation long surrounded Ryanair’s next move when it grabbed a deal as the launch customer for another Max version, the 200, which it dubbed the “game-changer”. It ruled out long-haul, but added more seats to the cabin. The Irish airline has 130 planes on order, the first 50 due to arrive between May and the summer. Michael O’Leary said the Max would cut his rock-bottom costs another 5%. And passengers could still be promised more comfort, legroom and nicer interiors.
The stakes are now highest of course for Boeing, with a Max order book worth a nominal $600bn (£460bn). Airlines will have options elsewhere, but have planned growth and schedules on the delivery of this more fuel-efficient plane. The spectre of jet fuel prices that were twice as high a decade ago still lingers, and Boeing claim the Max runs on 14-20% less than the newest “next generation” 737s available before.
Should the 737 Max be grounded for long, conceivably more airlines could struggle and fares could rise. However, the price of operating a plane whose safety is in doubt could be incalculable.
