Boeing 737 Max 10 Takes Off With 240 Orders at Paris Air Show

A Boeing 737 Max takes part in a flyng display at the first day of the 52nd Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport near Paris, France on June 19, 2017. (REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol)

Boeing launched the biggest and most fuel-efficient plane yet in its 737 MAX jetliner series at the opening of the Paris Airshow on Monday, June 19.

Competition is stiff these days in the airline industry. Customers are demanding lighter, more fuel-efficient planes that can carry more passengers for longer distances.

So what’s new with Boeing’s upgraded best-selling jetliner?

The MAX 10 is 5-and-a-half feet longer than the current 737 MAX 9 to make more space. The MAX 9 typically seats 178. The MAX 10 in contrast can seat up to 230 passengers.

Kevin Mcallister, Chief Executive of Boeing’s Jetliner Business says that “the MAX 10 will be the most efficient, single-aisle airplane in the skies.”

With the Airbus A321neo outselling the MAX 9 five-to-one, Boeing’s loyal customers like Korean Air pressed them for a larger variant of the MAX 9, so Boeing went back to the drawing board.

He also said that the new innovations give customers an “additional capacity with a 5 percent seat cost and trip cost advantage” over the Airbus A321neo, Boeing’s competition.

Already, customers have ordered more than 240 of the new MAX 10’s, with the first models coming into use in 2020.

Boeing’s launch of the MAX 10, which is the fifth addition to the 737 MAX family, takes place against the backdrop of surprisingly strong airline traffic driven by economic growth, but also a steep drop in the appetite for new planes following robust demand for the latest fuel-efficient models in recent years.