Boeing 737-700

The 737-700 was the first version of the 737 Next Generation (NG), the aircraft's third generation. Its origin lies in Boeing's reaction to the Airbus A320: when regular Boeing customer United Airlines bought the more technologically advanced European aircraft with fly-by-wire controls, the company decided to update the slower, shorter-range 737 Classic. Development began in 1991 and, after working with potential customers, the NG programme was announced on November 17, 1993. That same month Southwest Airlines launched it with an order for 63 737-700s, the version meant to replace its 737-300s.

The first NG to roll out was a -700, on December 8, 1996: it was the 2,843rd 737 built. It first flew on February 9, 1997, with pilots Mike Hewett and Ken Higgins. For a while it shared the line with the Classic, whose production did not end until February 2000. The flight test programme for the new generation used 10 aircraft, four of them -700s, alongside three -600s and three -800s. Southwest took delivery of the first aircraft in December 1997.

The -700 took over from the 737-300, typically seating 126 passengers in two classes and up to 149 in an all-economy layout, in the same segment as its direct competitor, the Airbus A319. It was powered by CFM International CFM56-7B engines. In long-range cruise it burns 4,440 lb (2,010 kg) of fuel per hour at Mach 0.785 and FL410, rising to 4,620–4,752 lb (2,096–2,155 kg) at Mach 0.80–0.82.

Over its commercial life it received the improvements of the NG family. From 2004 Boeing offered an optional Short Field Performance package, born of the needs of Gol Transportes Aéreos. In July 2008 came Messier-Bugatti-Dowty carbon brakes, lighter than the steel ones, and the first NG fitted with them was a 737-700 delivered to Delta Air Lines at the end of that month. In 2015 the Split Scimitar winglet from Aviation Partners, resembling the 737 MAX's, became available for the -700, giving up to 5.5% fuel savings against 3.3% for the earlier blended winglets, and the same year a single wing-root LED light package was offered for all NG airframes.

On the -700 airframe Boeing built several derivatives that now have their own entries. The 737-700C is a convertible version whose seats can be removed to carry cargo, with a large door on the left side; its launch customer was the United States Navy, which designated it C-40 Clipper. The 737-700ER, launched on January 31, 2006 with All Nippon Airways as launch customer, combined the -700 fuselage with the wings and landing gear of the -800 for more range, and the first was delivered to ANA on February 16, 2007. The original Boeing Business Jet, the BBJ1, also had the dimensions of the -700, and the E-7 Wedgetail early-warning aircraft is based on the 737-700IGW, a version of the same model similar to the 737-700ER.

By July 2018 every -700 on order had been delivered: 1,128 passenger aircraft, 120 BBJs, 20 -700Cs and 14 -700Ws. In June that year around 1000 were in service, half of them with Southwest Airlines, followed by WestJet with 56 and United Airlines with 39. The value of a new -700 stayed around $35 million from 2008 to 2018; an aircraft built in 2003 was valued at $15.5 million in 2016 and $12 million in 2018, and was expected to be scrapped for $6 million by 2023. Boeing stopped assembling passenger NGs in 2019, and the -700's successor in the MAX family is the 737 MAX 7.