12.45 – The next Boeing will illustrate a new way to sell planes

Boeing's expected launch of a mid-to-long-haul "mid-market" aircraft is intended to evolve the industry's traditional model by integrating services and leveraging innovative production system

"Commitment to our customers is a long-term commitment," says Ihssane Mounir, Boeing's vice president of sales. "Today, we address (approach) sales in a comprehensive way, not only the aircraft that is the main platform, but also with the services.This is the change of our business model in terms of sales."

"We combine both, services and aircraft" which allows to better control "the costs of the aircraft on their life cycle with a very strong portfolio in all that is service, modification of the aircraft , maintenance, digital services, "he added during a meeting with the Association of Aeronautical Press Journalists ahead of the Farnborough show.

Boeing has been holding the industry for months on end around this new device called "Middle of Market" (MoM) or "New Mid-Market Airplane" (NMA), but his boss, Dennis Muilenburg, said Sunday in London that the decision to launch is not expected before 2019

The 797, as nicknamed specialists, would be the first This aircraft was designed as part of the Seattle giant's new organization, which in late 2016 had a third division, Boeing Global Services (BGS), alongside its pillars in commercial aviation, defense, and defense. space. It targets a turnover of 50 billion dollars in five years for BGS, against nearly 15 billion in 2017.

This strategy allows him to have a more aggressive offer, which no longer revolves around the single price of the plane. "We talk a lot about prices, but what is interesting, when you look at the costs, for an airline the price is sometimes only one-third, the fifth on the plane cycle of 20-25 years," says Ihssane Mounir

"So focusing on price is a bit wrong in the sense that what we are proposing are planes that have very significant savings," he adds.

– Production Line revolutionary –

But while its current range already in production has benefited only in part from the latest innovations in terms of production, the aircraft manufacturer intends to set up a system based on new digital technologies for his next aircraft.

"We spend a lot of time with our customers to know exactly what they need, (and) with production lines, suppliers and OEMs, to make sure we're going to have a good system in place as well. for the costs that the production chain, "says Ihssane Mounir.

The aircraft manufacturer, on the other hand, plays the card of prudence concerning the innovations aboard the aircraft, drawing lessons from the 787 aboard which technologies insufficiently mature had been installed, generating additional costs and delays.

"For us, what is most important is to succeed at first," insists Ihssane Mounir. "There is the production line that will be revolutionary, we are trying to learn the lessons of the 787 and 777X, the + digital + revolution we are implementing today," he continues.

"And on the other hand, it's not an aircraft that will be technologically more advanced than what we have today, and what will be very advanced is the production line."

will rely heavily on digital technologies, from engineering to prototyping and simulation, to end-to-end digitization of the supply chain.

NMA "can be a good test run for implement new design methods, "said Philippe Plouvier, badociate director at the Boston Consulting Group. "Everyone understands that it will take a jump to launch a new generation of aircraft, that the ideal to do it is to have a new program," he continues.

"Do it on a new program as important as the medium-haul, without being well-honed in terms of new design methods, it is a colossal risk taking that can take you to the carpet, so actually, train on a small + program , whose stakes are lower, may be a good approach. "