Supposed to be an A321 fighter, but with no new wing or engine, but will carry more pax than the 900. A stopover measure, to try to end the hemorrhaging from the failures of the 900 MAX. With the recent gains in marketshare for the 321 NEO.
The wing and engines are
not the issue for the 737, the issue is the short landing gear. With redesigned taller gear, Boeing could use the larger CFM/LEAP engine variants and be perfectly fine carrying more passengers with the existing wing.
By my
rough math, the current wing on the 737NG could actually handle ~20K lbs more in MTOW before it reaches the same limitations as the 93.5T A321-200. Not all of that would be available for more passengers - a lot would be chewed up by taller gear, hanging larger engines, increasing fuselage weights with a stretch, and by having to install over-wing exit slides (not currently contemplated on the NG or MAX). But the wing capability is there as-is.
Back to the topic at hand -- this airplane, if seen through, needs to nail the payload, range, and price combination. There seems to be clear consensus in the market for a 200-280 seat airplane, fitting snugly between the A321 and the 787/A330. It cannot be designed with too much range - sizing the components for ranges the market will not use puts it at risk of being squeezed by the A321 and/or A330, especially when you factor in pricing Airbus' ability to discount. As a clean-sheet, it will need to be much more efficient per-seat than the A321/A330neo up to the target range point, say ~4500mi, and as close to A321 pricing as feasibly possible. Not an easy task - especially launching a clean sheet at a time when the 777X development is currently using cash and resources, only one 737 variant is really selling, and the widebody market is soft altogether, and the 787 has some very real sales challenges ahead vs the A330neo.
