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Despite its many challenges in recent years, the Boeing 737 Max remains a competitive offering in the single-aisle airliner market, with more than 4,100 orders still on the books.
However, the Max 10, the jet's largest variant, has struggled to compete in the large single-aisle airliner market against its Airbus contemporary, the A321neo.
The competitive scale will likely tip even further in favor of Airbus as the XLR, an ultra-long-range version of the A321neo that can fly nearly 1,000 miles further than the Max-10, nears entry into service.
But Boeing disagrees.
"I think the XLR, while interesting in terms of its capabilities or potential capabilities, is probably still not something that really tips the market," Boeing vice president of marketing, Darren Hulst, told reporters during a briefing outlining the company's latest market outlook in July.
Delta Air Lines
The Airbus A321neo is currently outselling the Boeing 737 Max 10 at a rate of 7:1, with 7,800 orders for the A321neo and 1,180 orders for the Max 10.
During the outlook call, Boeing reiterated its faith in Max 10 as a viable competitor instead of hinting at the need for a new aircraft to compete in the segment.
"I think overall, though, the larger segment of the single-aisle space is still growing, and that's why it's important for us why we developed the 737 Max 10 and why it's important for us to get that airplane certified into our customers," Hulst said.
Even though Boeing currently lags behind Airbus in the large single-aisle market, it's a segment that the US airplane maker once dominated with the 757 (which went out of production in 2004.)
In fact, Airbus launched the A321XLR in 2019 as a modern approximation of the Boeing 757, targeting airlines that enjoyed the aircraft's performance, versatility, and range.
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Airlines like Delta, which still operates an aging fleet of around 100 757s, have long lobbied Boeing for a true replacement, called the NMA or New Middle of Market Aircraft.
Unfortunately, the NMA has been put on pause by Boeing.
The Max 10 and the A321XLR are both undergoing certification. The XLR received type certification from European regulators this month and is expected to enter service later this year. At the same time, the Max 10 has been delayed until 2025 at the earliest.
Boeing's latest market outlook, released Friday, predicts that the world's airlines will need nearly 44,000 new airplanes over the next 20 years, of which more than three-quarters of that demand will be for single-aisle airliners like the Max.
