DBEA55AED16C0C92252A6554BC1553B2 Clicky DBEA55AED16C0C92252A6554BC1553B2 Clicky
March 29, 2024
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The 737 MAX7 is the least attractive member of the 737 MAX family.  It did not sell well initially, and even after Boeing redesigned it to add 12 seats, it hasn’t gained any market traction.  Even its largest customer, Southwest Airlines, has decided to up-gauge their orders to the larger MAX8 rather than take deliveries of the MAX7.  Even as the airline has kept buying used 737-700s from around the world.  Indeed, ~60% of that airline’s 737-700 fleet was sourced in the used market.

Of course, this is typical for the smallest models of narrow-body programs.  In the last generation of narrow-bodies, the A318 and 737-600 were also not well received in the market.  In the current generation, the A319neo and 737 MAX7 face a similar fate.   Aircraft that are optimized around larger seating capacity are typically heavier than they would need to be to compete well against aircraft purposely designed for a smaller seating range.  Today, that is the case with the C Series effectively replacing the A319neo at Airbus, and potentially the E195-E2 replacing the 737 MAX7 at Boeing, should a proposed transaction between Boeing and Embraer be consummated.