Boeing 737 BBJ1

An executive 737 was not a new idea: in the late 1980s Boeing had already marketed the "77-33" jet, a business version of the 737-300 whose name was short-lived. The real Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) was conceived in 1996 as a high-performance derivative of the 737 Next Generation. It was designed by Borge Boeskov at the request of Phil Condit, president of Boeing, and Jack Welch, chairman and CEO of General Electric; it was a business aircraft developed together with General Electric on the basis of the 737NG.

The BBJ shared the dimensions of the 737-700 but added the stronger wings and landing gear of the 737-800. It could carry up to nine auxiliary belly fuel tanks, extending its range to over 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km), far beyond that of any other 737 model. Aviation Partners winglets became standard and gave a 5% range boost. The first aircraft rolled out on August 11, 1998, and flew for the first time on September 4, 1998.

When Boeing launched the BBJ2, based on the 737-800, on October 11, 1999, the original model was retroactively renamed the BBJ1. The BBJ2 was 19 ft 2 in (5.84 m) longer, with 25% more cabin space and twice the baggage space at the cost of slightly reduced range; it was followed by the BBJ3, derived from the 737-900ER. The BBJ name later came to cover any Boeing aircraft modified for the business jet role. A total of 113 BBJ1s were delivered to customers. From 2015, Split Scimitar winglets became available for the BBJ1, offering up to 5.5% fuel savings compared with 3.3% for the blended winglets.

The BBJ created a market. Airbus followed with its Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ) program, and smaller competitors include the Embraer Lineage, the Bombardier Global Express and the Gulfstream G550 and G650. The first operators were Fortune 100 companies such as Aramco and Tracinda, along with NetJets and casinos such as the Las Vegas Sands. The 2008 recession put ultra-large business jets under scrutiny and many companies, including The Limited, General Electric and Occidental Petroleum, divested them; in China, Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign also curbed the conspicuous use of private jets. Today most BBJs are flown by governments for VIP transport in the United States, Australia and Africa, as well as Colombia, Turkey, India, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Malaysia, South Africa and Tunisia, and by Gulf royal families. Several countries use it as a presidential aircraft.

The BBJ design also had military and airline offspring. The U.S. Air Force uses the C-40B and C-40C, based on the BBJ, to carry generals and other senior leaders. The aerodynamic and structural changes developed for the BBJ formed the basis of the airline 737-700ER, launched in 2006 with the -700 fuselage and the -800 wing and landing gear, and the convertible 737-700C inherited the BBJ's strengthened wings. As of July 2018, Boeing had delivered 120 BBJ versions of the -700.

Over twenty years of production, 143 BBJs based on the 737NG (BBJ1, BBJ2 and BBJ3) entered service, nearly triple the initial forecast of 50; the last was delivered in 2021. Its successor is the BBJ 737 MAX family, launched on April 2, 2014, and delivered from October 15, 2018: the BBJ MAX 7 is 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) longer than the BBJ1 and flies 445 nmi (825 km) further. Since the BBJ was introduced, Boeing has delivered more than 260 BBJs of all types.