The American company Boeing plans to focus on the production of the 737 aircraft and may not launch a next-generation narrow-body aircraft until the end of the next decade. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said this in an interview with Bloomberg.
“The market will tell us when the right time is. Whether it's the end of the next decade - we'll see“, he said.
According to Ortberg, the company “will need a few more years“ to increase production of current aircraft, as well as “to improve cash flow and pay down some of the debt“. “Customers want to see increased reliability in an existing product - we have a lot of backlogs“, the CEO added.
Boeing is taking a more conservative approach to building new planes than its rival Airbus. The European aircraft giant has said it could start developing a new model of its A320 passenger jet as early as the 1930s. Airbus previously beat Boeing to the market with the launch of the upgraded A320, the A320neo, forcing the US company to launch the updated Boeing 737 MAX.