The big announcement by Boeing on whether or not it will commit to the new middle of the market aircraft (NME), dubbed “797”, was expected to be made during the upcoming Paris Air Show. But then, the 737 MAX crisis hit, at which point Boeing ceased communicating any progress of ongoing projects, even on the 777X. The company’s CEO eventually confessed that they were “making progress” regarding the NMA decision and the timeline of the project has not changed.