Boeing 737-200 Advanced

The 737-200, a 737-100 with a stretched fuselage launched by a United Airlines order in 1965, rolled out on June 29, 1967, first flew on August 8, 1967, and was certified by the FAA on December 21, 1967; United flew its inaugural service on April 28, 1968, from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Airlines quickly preferred it to the -100, but the early aircraft had shortcomings that Boeing addressed step by step, and those fixes led to the 737-200 Advanced.

The first problem lay in the thrust reversers, identical to those on the side nacelles of the 727: they were fairly ineffective and, when deployed, tended to lift the aircraft, unloading the main gear and reducing braking efficiency. In 1968 an improved system arrived, with a 120 cm (48 in) tailpipe extension and new reversers set at 35 degrees from the vertical, deflecting the exhaust above and below the wing; it became standard on all aircraft from March 1969 and was retrofitted to those already flying. Boeing also tackled drag with new wing and nacelle fairings and improved the airflow over the flaps and slats, while the high-lift devices were refined on the assembly line so they could be used more fully for takeoff and landing, improving payload, range and short-runway performance.

From aircraft number 135, in May 1971, all these improvements were built in as standard: improved aerodynamics, automatic wheel brakes, more powerful Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines and greater fuel capacity. The result was a 15% increase in payload and range over the original -200s and, in turn, the -100s. All Nippon Airways introduced the 737-200 Advanced into service on May 20, 1971, and it became the production standard in June 1971. It kept the dimensions of the -200 while offering more performance, engines optimized for fuel consumption and noise and a significant step forward in avionics, and its elongated engine nacelles make it easy to recognize; it also had a higher takeoff weight.

The Advanced arrived at a delicate moment: early 737 sales were poor and Boeing even considered selling the program to a Japanese company before deciding to keep it; in the late 1970s the aircraft began to sell, helped in part by the 1978 airline deregulation. Its success was the starting point for the 737 Classic, whose development began in 1979 to add capacity and range while keeping commonality with earlier variants. Boeing also offered the 737-200C (Combi) and the 737-200QC (Quick Change) to switch between passenger and cargo roles.

Its rugged design suited remote airstrips. Boeing offered an Unpaved Strip Kit, with a gravel deflector on the nose gear and a vortex dissipator extending from the front of each engine, which reduced foreign object damage on unimproved or gravel runways that competing jetliners could not use safely. Alaska Airlines used the kit on its combi aircraft until retiring its -200 fleet in 2007, and Air Inuit, Nolinor Aviation and Buffalo Airways still use it in Northern Canada. In 2005 the Quiet Wing Corp mini-winglet kit was certified for the 737-200.

Production ended in August 1988, when the 1,114th and last -200 series aircraft was delivered to Xiamen Airlines. In March 2008 Aloha Airlines retired the last 737-200s flying scheduled passenger service in the United States, although charter operators such as Sierra Pacific Airlines kept flying them. As of September 2023, fifty were still flying with thirty carriers, and during the 737 MAX groundings older 737s were in demand on the leasing market. Its accidents include Cubana Flight 972 on May 18, 2018: a 737-200 Advanced of the Mexican operator Global Air, chartered by Cubana de Aviación, crashed shortly after takeoff from Havana bound for Holguín with 107 passengers and six crew on board; only one passenger survived. The investigation concluded that the crew took off at an excessive angle, which led to a stall.