5,000 airplanes ... and counting - After slow start, 737 has become most-produced large jet airliner
RENTON -- The Boeing Co. will set a new milestone Monday when it delivers its 5,000th 737 jetliner -- the most ever delivered of any commercial passenger airplane in the modern jet age.
To understand the significance of that feat, consider this: Boeing rival Airbus SAS last year touted the delivery of its 4,000th commercial jetliner.
That's counting all models the European planemaker has ever produced.
The publishers of the Guinness book of World Records last week notified Boeing of their decision to officially recognize the Renton-built 737 as the ``most produced large commercial jet airplane in aviation history,'' said Sandy Angers, a spokeswoman for the 737 program.
For all of the hype Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner has received as of late, the venerable 737 remains the company's best-selling commercial airplane by a wide margin.
In 2005, the company landed a record 569 orders for ``Next-Generation'' 737s
-- more than half of the total net orders (1,002) it won for all models last year.
In comparison, the Everett-built 787, which is set to begin commercial service in 2008, received a total of 235 net orders last year.
Airbus -- which introduced its rival to the 737, the A320, in 1988 -- claims that its narrow-body plane is the ``best-selling single-aisle family (of passenger jets) of all time,'' but that's only true if 737 ``classics'' and ``Next-Generation'' jets are considered two separate families of planes.
As of the beginning of 2005, Airbus had delivered a total of 2,359 A320s, compared with 4,754 737s delivered by Boeing. However, the A320, which holds up to 220 passengers, did top the 737 in number sold last year, winning orders for a total of 918 planes.
Delivery ceremony in Renton
Since the 737 entered commercial service in 1968, Boeing has sold more than 6,000 of the single-aisle passenger jets, a milestone it passed in December.
Several airlines, including Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, which will receive the 5,000th 737 Monday at a delivery ceremony at Boeing's Renton plant, fly nothing but 737 jetliners.
Boeing, which completely revamped the plane in the early 1990s by developing a line of ``Next-Generation'' models, continues to introduce new versions of the 737, including extended range versions of the -900, which was launched last year, and the -700, which the company announced Jan. 31.
The company is even developing a military version of the plane for the U.S.
Navy, with another one reportedly on the drawing board that Boeing pitched to Department of Defense officials last month, according to a recent report by Defense Daily, a defense industry trade publication.
Program almost canceled
It's difficult to imagine today, but Boeing came close to canceling the 737 line twice in the program's early years because of poor sales.
Bruce Comer, a longtime Boeing mechanic who helps assemble 737s in Renton, recalled that the company received only five orders for the plane the year it was introduced in 1965, and 14 orders for the plane in 1972.
It wasn't until the late 1970s that the sales of the single-aisle jetliner really took off, Comer said.
The company ``almost shut this program twice,'' said Comer, who began building 737-100s in the late 1960s. ``Now we're about to deliver Number 5,000,'' the Federal Way resident noted.
Covington resident Wes Lickiss is a production floor team leader who has been involved in building 737s for the past 15 years.
The 737 assembly plant is a ``good place to work, with good people to work with,'' said Lickiss, who said ``things are going pretty smooth now,'' even though that wasn't always the case.
Lickiss recalled that Boeing temporarily shut down 737 production for nearly a month in the fall of 1997 because a surge in orders back then created a number of assembly line problems that took time to sort out.
Unfinished planes sat in field
For a while that year, ``there were a lot of unfinished planes out in the field,'' next to the plant, Lickiss said.
The introduction of lean manufacturing techniques and other improvements to the assembly line have solved those problems and continue to make the program ``even better'' as Boeing continues to invest in research and development, Lickiss said.
Mark Jensen, vice president and general manager of 737 Programs for Boeing, credits the sustained popularity of the airplane to its ``superior economics,'' ``superior performance,'' ``structural efficiency'' and versatility.
Another appealing feature of the 737 line is that pilots trained to fly one model of the plane can easily adapt to all other 737 models.
Next-Generation versions of the 737, which are the only 737s Boeing now produces, are also more fuel-efficient and, as a result, more environmentally friendly than your average jetliner, Jensen said.
Richard Aboulafia, an aviation industry analyst with The Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., in an interview with the Journal last summer attributed the 737's staying power to Boeing's discontinuation of the 757 program in 2004, the weak U.S. dollar, which has made it more difficult for Airbus to beat Boeing on price, the rise of low-cost airlines in Asia, and Boeing's decision in 2004 to proceed with its new 787.
``Airlines like buying aircraft from manufacturers that are committed to the market,'' Aboulafia told the Journal, adding that there had been some doubt about the future of Boeing's commercial airplanes business prior to 2004.
50-year lifespan predicted
Aboulafia predicted that the 737 program, now in its 37th year, could live to be 50 years old, if not longer.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Alan Mulally told The Seattle Times in December that the company might introduce a successor plane to the 737 that could enter service as soon as 2012, and that likely would be assembled in Washington state.
Jensen declined to elaborate on Mulally's comments, but said ``I think the 737's history as the best-selling airplane will continue'' for years to come.
Even if Boeing were to suddenly stop selling 737s -- a scenario no one predicts -- the current production backlog of more than 1,000 of the planes that have been ordered but yet to be built should keep the company's Renton plant busy for years to come.
Boeing delivered a total of 290 commercial airplanes last year, of which 737s accounted for roughly 75 percent, Chief Financial Officer James Bell told analysts in a conference call on Feb. 1.
Good news for Renton
While the company does not disclose production rates for individual plane lines, Bell told analysts that 737s are expected to continue to account for roughly three out of every four planes Boeing delivers in 2006 and 2007.
Boeing has set goals of delivering 395 planes this year and between 440 and
445 planes next year.
That's good news for the local economy and Renton plant workers, not to mention job seekers.
As it steadily ramps up production at its airplane assembly plants in Renton and Everett, Boeing has added more than 10,000 Puget Sound area workers since mid-2004, a hiring rate that is expected to continue in this region through the majority of this year, if not longer.
The company added a second moving production line for 737s at its Renton plant in December.
``Boeing has reassured us that (the Renton 737 assembly plant) will be there ... for the foreseeable future,'' said Bill Dugovich, a spokesman for SPEEA, the union that represents Boeing engineers and technical workers. ``Our feeling is that Renton is secure.''
Alex Pietsch, who heads the city of Renton's department of economic development, neighborhoods and strategic planning, said ``Renton is proud of the fact that it's home to the best-selling airplane in the world.''
Pietsch noted that before Boeing moved its 737 program to Renton in 1970, the city was where the planemaker assembled its 707 and 727 jetliners. ``The dawn of the jet age occurred in Renton,'' he said.
The city, which has been home to Boeing airplane manufacturing operations since 1942, would ``like to continue that partnership for another 60 years,'' said Pietsch, adding his hope that the company will consider Renton as a potential site for the program that will eventually replace the 737.
Source of pride for mechanic
The delivery of the 5,000th 737 is a source of pride for Annie Ackerson, a Boeing systems installation mechanic who has been involved in the program for the past 18 years.
Over the years, ``I've pretty much done every job'' there is when it comes to assembling the narrow-body jets, Ackerson said.
As a result, the continued success of the 737 program ``is real personal for me,'' said Ackerson, a Renton resident who was part of the team that helped with the design of the first Next-Generation 737 in the early 1990s.
Ackerson said she still gets a thrill when Southwest Airlines pilots visit the Renton plant to inspect new 737s and tell her and her co-workers: ``We love flying your airplanes.''
``Working on planes every day, we (sometimes) forget that people fly in these things and that what we do affects people's lives,'' Ackerson said.
Clayton Park can be reached at [email protected] or at 253-872-6717.
RENTON -- The Boeing Co. will set a new milestone Monday when it delivers its 5,000th 737 jetliner -- the most ever delivered of any commercial passenger airplane in the modern jet age.
To understand the significance of that feat, consider this: Boeing rival Airbus SAS last year touted the delivery of its 4,000th commercial jetliner.
That's counting all models the European planemaker has ever produced.
The publishers of the Guinness book of World Records last week notified Boeing of their decision to officially recognize the Renton-built 737 as the ``most produced large commercial jet airplane in aviation history,'' said Sandy Angers, a spokeswoman for the 737 program.
For all of the hype Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner has received as of late, the venerable 737 remains the company's best-selling commercial airplane by a wide margin.
In 2005, the company landed a record 569 orders for ``Next-Generation'' 737s
-- more than half of the total net orders (1,002) it won for all models last year.
In comparison, the Everett-built 787, which is set to begin commercial service in 2008, received a total of 235 net orders last year.
Airbus -- which introduced its rival to the 737, the A320, in 1988 -- claims that its narrow-body plane is the ``best-selling single-aisle family (of passenger jets) of all time,'' but that's only true if 737 ``classics'' and ``Next-Generation'' jets are considered two separate families of planes.
As of the beginning of 2005, Airbus had delivered a total of 2,359 A320s, compared with 4,754 737s delivered by Boeing. However, the A320, which holds up to 220 passengers, did top the 737 in number sold last year, winning orders for a total of 918 planes.
Delivery ceremony in Renton
Since the 737 entered commercial service in 1968, Boeing has sold more than 6,000 of the single-aisle passenger jets, a milestone it passed in December.
Several airlines, including Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, which will receive the 5,000th 737 Monday at a delivery ceremony at Boeing's Renton plant, fly nothing but 737 jetliners.
Boeing, which completely revamped the plane in the early 1990s by developing a line of ``Next-Generation'' models, continues to introduce new versions of the 737, including extended range versions of the -900, which was launched last year, and the -700, which the company announced Jan. 31.
The company is even developing a military version of the plane for the U.S.
Navy, with another one reportedly on the drawing board that Boeing pitched to Department of Defense officials last month, according to a recent report by Defense Daily, a defense industry trade publication.
Program almost canceled
It's difficult to imagine today, but Boeing came close to canceling the 737 line twice in the program's early years because of poor sales.
Bruce Comer, a longtime Boeing mechanic who helps assemble 737s in Renton, recalled that the company received only five orders for the plane the year it was introduced in 1965, and 14 orders for the plane in 1972.
It wasn't until the late 1970s that the sales of the single-aisle jetliner really took off, Comer said.
The company ``almost shut this program twice,'' said Comer, who began building 737-100s in the late 1960s. ``Now we're about to deliver Number 5,000,'' the Federal Way resident noted.
Covington resident Wes Lickiss is a production floor team leader who has been involved in building 737s for the past 15 years.
The 737 assembly plant is a ``good place to work, with good people to work with,'' said Lickiss, who said ``things are going pretty smooth now,'' even though that wasn't always the case.
Lickiss recalled that Boeing temporarily shut down 737 production for nearly a month in the fall of 1997 because a surge in orders back then created a number of assembly line problems that took time to sort out.
Unfinished planes sat in field
For a while that year, ``there were a lot of unfinished planes out in the field,'' next to the plant, Lickiss said.
The introduction of lean manufacturing techniques and other improvements to the assembly line have solved those problems and continue to make the program ``even better'' as Boeing continues to invest in research and development, Lickiss said.
Mark Jensen, vice president and general manager of 737 Programs for Boeing, credits the sustained popularity of the airplane to its ``superior economics,'' ``superior performance,'' ``structural efficiency'' and versatility.
Another appealing feature of the 737 line is that pilots trained to fly one model of the plane can easily adapt to all other 737 models.
Next-Generation versions of the 737, which are the only 737s Boeing now produces, are also more fuel-efficient and, as a result, more environmentally friendly than your average jetliner, Jensen said.
Richard Aboulafia, an aviation industry analyst with The Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., in an interview with the Journal last summer attributed the 737's staying power to Boeing's discontinuation of the 757 program in 2004, the weak U.S. dollar, which has made it more difficult for Airbus to beat Boeing on price, the rise of low-cost airlines in Asia, and Boeing's decision in 2004 to proceed with its new 787.
``Airlines like buying aircraft from manufacturers that are committed to the market,'' Aboulafia told the Journal, adding that there had been some doubt about the future of Boeing's commercial airplanes business prior to 2004.
50-year lifespan predicted
Aboulafia predicted that the 737 program, now in its 37th year, could live to be 50 years old, if not longer.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Alan Mulally told The Seattle Times in December that the company might introduce a successor plane to the 737 that could enter service as soon as 2012, and that likely would be assembled in Washington state.
Jensen declined to elaborate on Mulally's comments, but said ``I think the 737's history as the best-selling airplane will continue'' for years to come.
Even if Boeing were to suddenly stop selling 737s -- a scenario no one predicts -- the current production backlog of more than 1,000 of the planes that have been ordered but yet to be built should keep the company's Renton plant busy for years to come.
Boeing delivered a total of 290 commercial airplanes last year, of which 737s accounted for roughly 75 percent, Chief Financial Officer James Bell told analysts in a conference call on Feb. 1.
Good news for Renton
While the company does not disclose production rates for individual plane lines, Bell told analysts that 737s are expected to continue to account for roughly three out of every four planes Boeing delivers in 2006 and 2007.
Boeing has set goals of delivering 395 planes this year and between 440 and
445 planes next year.
That's good news for the local economy and Renton plant workers, not to mention job seekers.
As it steadily ramps up production at its airplane assembly plants in Renton and Everett, Boeing has added more than 10,000 Puget Sound area workers since mid-2004, a hiring rate that is expected to continue in this region through the majority of this year, if not longer.
The company added a second moving production line for 737s at its Renton plant in December.
``Boeing has reassured us that (the Renton 737 assembly plant) will be there ... for the foreseeable future,'' said Bill Dugovich, a spokesman for SPEEA, the union that represents Boeing engineers and technical workers. ``Our feeling is that Renton is secure.''
Alex Pietsch, who heads the city of Renton's department of economic development, neighborhoods and strategic planning, said ``Renton is proud of the fact that it's home to the best-selling airplane in the world.''
Pietsch noted that before Boeing moved its 737 program to Renton in 1970, the city was where the planemaker assembled its 707 and 727 jetliners. ``The dawn of the jet age occurred in Renton,'' he said.
The city, which has been home to Boeing airplane manufacturing operations since 1942, would ``like to continue that partnership for another 60 years,'' said Pietsch, adding his hope that the company will consider Renton as a potential site for the program that will eventually replace the 737.
Source of pride for mechanic
The delivery of the 5,000th 737 is a source of pride for Annie Ackerson, a Boeing systems installation mechanic who has been involved in the program for the past 18 years.
Over the years, ``I've pretty much done every job'' there is when it comes to assembling the narrow-body jets, Ackerson said.
As a result, the continued success of the 737 program ``is real personal for me,'' said Ackerson, a Renton resident who was part of the team that helped with the design of the first Next-Generation 737 in the early 1990s.
Ackerson said she still gets a thrill when Southwest Airlines pilots visit the Renton plant to inspect new 737s and tell her and her co-workers: ``We love flying your airplanes.''
``Working on planes every day, we (sometimes) forget that people fly in these things and that what we do affects people's lives,'' Ackerson said.
Clayton Park can be reached at [email protected] or at 253-872-6717.
