Re-engine the 757 is the most less-risky and the most cheapest way to modernise the 757. But simply "MAXimising" them by putting some LEAPs under the wings would be impossible. The maximum thrust of the LEAP-variants is below 33.000 lbf, much lower than the RB211 and PW2043 used on the 757-300. Besides that the fuselage of the 757 is still based on the one of the 727, only modified with newer materials during development in the end of the '70s. This will make the 757 MAX a poor competitor for the A321neo.
The 757 is dead. The tooling and manufacturing base is long gone. Where the 737 it still exists.
Farther both Engines that it used are long gone too.
Basically Boeing has to start from scratch and has to get a new engine for it too.
The Original Boeing NMA project was supposed to use RR Ultrafan engines which may be the option here.
Seems that's what this NMA need to answer. 200-250 capacity medium to long range able to handle city to city thiner direct routes. Hub and spoke business model now have to compete with thiner point to point model. Yes, that's what A321 LR/XLR give, and I believe that's where this NMA should answer. Either that, or Boeing just give up on that market segment.
There are talks to give HGW version for 737 Max 10 to give it more range. Still even with 737-10ER, it won't be enough to face A321XLR. It is their own calculation that has to determine whether want to challenge Airbus on that market portion.
Agreed to a point but the critical thing here is Boeing’s 737 has been the top seller of airliners until it was eclipsed by the A320 earlier this year.
If Boeing doesn’t have an entry level aircraft they loose a substantial market share and more critical potentially give their most loyal customer base to Airbus. The budget and regional airlines are going through a shake up but they are some of the most loyal customers.
That is why I said Boeing needs both. The 737 Max can’t really compete with the A321XLR for range. But then again are you going to get Southwest or Ryan to buy something that doesn’t meet their requirements? Sure you could fly a short hop with an A321XLR but it’s not the hyper efficient model many of these airlines live on.
The 757 line is so dead that any attempt to resurrect it has to start from nothing and ends up a brand new aircraft.
The 737 Max is a dead end. It’s taken the aircraft as far as it can go on milking the potential for it. A follow on from the Max automatically becomes such an extensive redesign it’s a a new aircraft.
Simply Scaling down the 787 isn’t a solution either the 787 though a wonderful plane has a number of solutions that were chosen for it that Boeing probably won’t use again. Some materials and manufacturing methods are just too much trouble and though Boeing uses them on the 787 family they are unlikely to follow up.