I was amused last week by a comment originating from Airbus that they believed that Boeing would actually re-engine the 737 rather than proceed with the new build replacement so frequently talked about lately at Boeing.  Amused because while I do think the Airbus decision was right (in that it did offer good gains and it was what they could do between now and the middle of the next decade) but also because the 737 is reaching a level of maturity in efficiency that the Airbus A320 hasn’t come close to yet. 

I always kind of marvel out how just a 1 or 2 percent increase in efficiency can yield such huge savings for airlines.  Not because I don’t understand but because it takes such determination to find these savings.  Engineers at Boeing have been doing this for a long time on the 737.  It wasn’t just adding winglets but lots of tiny things adding up to small percentages of efficiency gains that net big dollars in costs savings.   The driver for this initially was to compete better with the A320 but the truth is that a good aircraft manufacturer always pursues these incremental gains over the product lifespan. 

But as time goes by, there are diminishing returns for the effort (read: work) that has to go into finding these gains.  The latest generation of Boeing aircraft have seen those pursuits for nearly 15 years and they (Boeing) have been relentless in their pusuit.   Finding those gains going forward for the next 10 years is going to cost a lot more for a lot less gain. 

There are always outside new developments.  Just last week we learned that easyJet is painting their aircraft (Airbus A320) with a new paint technology that is much thinner than previous paint techniques.  Provided the paint proves to be durable over an appropriate lifespan, easyJet expects to see efficiency gains of 1 to 2 percent due to less weight an and an aerodyamically smoother surface across the aircraft.  Provided the process isn’t terribly more expensive and it is as durable, this could save countless airlines a great deal of money over the ownership of an airplane.

No matter what each manufacturer does in its product line of significant note such as re-engining or designing new aircraft, the relentless pursuit of small incremental gains in efficiency will always go on and never more so than for the kind of airliners that the A320 and B737 represent.

Filed under: Aircraft Development, Airline Fleets by ajax