Boeing 737

what is it?

The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its factories in Washington state. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating but with two underwing Pratt & Whitney JT8D low-bypass turbofan engines. Envisioned in 1964, the initial 737-100 made its first flight in April 1967 and entered service in February 1968 with Lufthansa.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · low wing · retractable tricycle gear · 28.4 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 778 km/hcruise speed
• range 4,815 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 102passengers
• size 58.1 tmax take-off weight
• built 10,510made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 59 years ago, in 1967.
• 🚗Wingspan of 28.4 m: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 10 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 4,815 km: 27× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.3× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1967-04-09

introduced

1968

status

still flying

number built

10,510

role

narrow-body airliner

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Boeing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15A / Pratt & Whitney JT8D / CFM International CFM56

crew

2

passengers

102

length

30.5 m

wingspan

28.4 m

height

11.2 m

max take-off weight

58.1 t

top speed

—

cruise speed

778 km/h

range

4,815 km

ceiling

11,278 m

wings

low wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

ICAO code

B732

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family