737 hits milestone: 10,000 planes

SEATTLE» Boeing celebrated Tuesday production of its 10,000th singleaisle 737, putting what is already the best-selling jet of all time on track to become the best-selling large transport airplane in history.

Yet when the plane first flew more than 50 years ago, no one could have guessed its destiny.

The pilot in command on that first flight, now 93, recalled hopping around the globe in 737s in the years after the plane’s 1967 debut to goose flagging sales.

“At the time of its birth, we were struggling to attract airlines at all,” said pilot Brien Wygle. “I don’t think anybody could have foreseen the extreme success of the airplane in the long run.”

The 737’s evolution over five decades shows a progression from a short, stubby puddle-jumper to a much-larger plane carrying twice as many passengers more than twice the distance.

The airplane celebrated Tuesday was the latest 737 MAX 8. Boeing delivered the first 5,000 airplanes between 1967 and 2006. The second 5,000 have been delivered in just the last dozen years.

Today, Southwest is the jet’s leading customer, with an all-737 fleet of more than 700 airplanes and more than 400 others on order.

Boeing estimates that more than three million passengers fly on 737s around the world every day. — Tribune News Services