Aircraft

By Darren Shannon in Washington DC

Boeing today delivered the 2,000th aircraft from its 737-600/700/800/900 family of aircraft.

“This is a tremendous day for the Boeing team and our customers,” says the US manufacturer’s vice president and 737 general manager Mark Jenkins, in a statement celebrating the delivery of the aircraft, a 737-700, to Southwest Airlines (pictured below).

“The 737 family just keeps getting better and better, and this milestone is a reflection of the continued value our customers place on the aircraft and the people who design, build and support them,” he adds.

“Earlier this year, the current aircraft family eclipsed order totals for Classic 737s,” says Boeing. “As of 30 June 2006, 97 customers have placed orders for more than 3,300 aircraft. The programme has 1,365 unfilled orders with a value of $91 billion at current list prices.”

Boeing’s Next Generation 737 has been in service since 1998. According to the US manufacturer, the fleet has accumulated more than 24 million flight hours and flown more than 12 million flights.

In January, forty-one years after its launch, the 5,000th example of the Boeing 737 rolled off the production line. Flight International experts looked into the past, present and the future of the venerable narrowbody in a special report.