Okay Airways takes delivery of 9,999th Boeing 737-800 aircraft

Okay Airways on Saturday took delivery of the 9,999th Boeing 737-800 aircraft from the Boeing Co. The jet then headed to China.

The 737-800 jet, which was officially delivered by Boeing on Friday, took off from the company’s Seattle airfield in the state of Washington and was scheduled make stopovers at Hawaii and Saipan, the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, before it arrives at Tianjin Binhai International Airport.

The new delivery will expand Okay Airways’ Boeing fleet to 27.

Erik Nelson, vice president of Boeing 737 field operations and delivery, said that the figure of 9,999 means eternity in Chinese culture, and that Boeing and the Chinese air industry will continue to deepen their long-term relations.

Rick Anderson, vice president of Northeast Asia sales of Boeing Commercial Airplanes based in Seattle, said Boeing has maintained a great cooperative relationship with Okay Airways, the first private air carrier in China.

Wang Shusheng, president of Okay Airways, said that his company has had close cooperation with Boeing in many areas, citing a pilot training program the airline recently agreed on with Boeing in Shanghai.

The future addition of Boeing 737 MAX series and 787-9 Dreamliners to the fleet of Okay Airways will generate more opportunities for the airline’s development, Wang said.

The new 737-800 jet will be put into service by the end of March, with its first commercial fight expected to be from North Chinas’ Tianjin to Changsha in Central China’s Hunan Province.

Boeing celebrated the 10,000th 737 aircraft that rolled off its production line on March 13 this year.