When did the Boeing 737 come out?

Boeing announced the 737 on 19 February 1965 as a short-range complement to its 707 and 727. The idea was a twinjet with six seats per row, wider than its direct rivals, sharing fuselage cross-section with its larger siblings to simplify production and maintenance. Lufthansa was the launch customer, an unusual choice at the time for a US manufacturer.

The 737-100 prototype took off from Boeing Field in Seattle on 9 April 1967. FAA certification followed in December that same year, and Lufthansa put it into service on 10 February 1968. A few weeks later United Airlines introduced the 737-200, a stretched version that became the popular variant of the first generation: only 30 examples of the -100 were ever built.

The family has been renewed three times without abandoning its basic layout. The 737 Classic (-300, -400 and -500) arrived in 1984 with high-bypass CFM56 engines, recognisable by their flattened-bottom nacelles. The Next Generation (-600 to -900) arrived in 1997 with a new wing, more range and a glass cockpit. Finally, the 737 MAX first flew in January 2016 and entered service in May 2017 with CFM LEAP-1B engines.

With more than 11,000 units delivered, the 737 is the most-produced commercial jet airliner in history, and its Renton assembly line has been running for nearly six decades. Few designs from the 1960s are still manufactured today in any industry; that an aircraft is, and that it still competes head-to-head with the Airbus A320neo, speaks to how sound the original concept was.