Online travel agent allows customers to filter out Boeing 737 Max planes

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 620 points –
Online travel agent allows customers to filter out Boeing 737 Max planes
theguardian.com

Online travel agent allows customers to filter out Boeing 737 Max planes::Kayak customers can exclude Max 9 aircraft after cabin panel blowout on Alaska Airlines flight

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Multiple airlines in the US already have majority Airbus fleets. It’s not quite as hard to avoid as you might think

Delta is primarily an Airbus fleet. They do not currently fly any 737 MAX planes, though they have ordered 100 Max 10s for delivery starting in 2025.

I'll assume they're being pressured into it by the significant fuel savings the max offers over their current fleet.

Or, if are willing to fly any of the big 3's regional brands it'll be on a regional jet which Boeing doesn't make. Generally those are made by Bombardier or less commonly Embraer. Though, bigger plane means smoother flight.

I’ll assume they're being pressured into it by the significant fuel savings the max offers over their current fleet.

Perhaps to replace existing 737s. But the Airbus A320neo has similar fuel efficiency with high bypass turbofans.

Aren't all commercial plane turbine engines high bypass turbofans? (excluding turboprop)

Serious question, because I assumed that's how they all worked, but this sounds like it is special or in spite of and it got me wondering.

The A320neo and the Boeing 737 Max use larger turbofans for increasingly higher efficiency gains. These larger engines would be scraping on the ground with the original 737 design, which is why the engines had to be mounted further forward and higher on the wings. This is what changes the flight characteristics, leading Boeing to develop the MCAS system to make the plane fly like the older 737s, which famously led to two crashed planes when it malfunctioned.

The Airbus A320neo did not run into this problem because the landing gear for the A320 are longer and it sits much higher off the ground, so throwing on the larger turbofans still left them with plenty of ground clearance.