SEATTLE (dpa) – Every ten seconds, somewhere on the globe a Boeing-737 plane is taking off.
Ever since its maiden flight on April 9, 1967 at Boeing headquarters in Seattle, the plane has been soaring from one new record to the next.Now, two more are due. Within the next few weeks, the 5,000th order for a B737 plane is expected. And by May at the latest, the 4,000th plane is due for delivery. The twin-engined B737 is therefore by far the best-selling passenger jet in history.One of the greatest ironies in this success story is that originally, Boeing back in the 1960s did not even want to build this money-making product. The company literally had to be forced to find its fortune.More specifically, a claim can be made that the B737 was “born” in then-West Germany. It was Gerhard Hoeltje, then the chief of technology at the Lufthansa airline, which persuaded Boeing of the necessity of a new short-range passenger plane.At the same time, the story does not put the far-sightedness of German politicians in a very good light.As early as 1957, then Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard did get the ball rolling by launching a competition for passenger planes. The Hamburg Flugzeugbau GmbH company presented its design for the HFB-314 plane, for 70 to 80 passengers.Lufthansa immediately saw the huge market potential for this twinjet, which appeared to be better than the French-built Caravelle and the DH-121 made in Britain, and urgently argued for construction of the HFB-314.But Bonn provided no development money for the project and so the HFB lacked financing. The project was buried in 1960.In a bitter turn for the German aerospace industry, Lufthansa then went across the Atlantic and pressed Boeing to build a modern short- range jet, giving rise to the B737.On February 19, 1965 Lufthansa became the first customer and ordered 21 B737s. On February 10, 1968 the first B737 entered service for the German airline.In the nearly four decades since the first development work on the plane, the twinjet has undergone a fascinating metamorphosis. More specifically, the B737 has over time become a completely different airplane.The first Boeing 737-100 could fly a maximum 3,440 kilometres. It had a wingspan of 28.34 metres, was 28.57 metres long and offered seating to 107 passengers.Today, the Boeing Business Jet BBJ – the latest and highest- performance version of the B737 meant for VIPs, government and corporate executives and wealthy private customers – can fly 11,475 kilometres without any problem.But even the conventional versions of the third generation of the B737 far surpass the earlier planes in every respect.This family of the Boeing 737-600/700/800/900 planes has considerably quieter and more powerful jet engines, more roomy cockpits and the most modern flight systems.The B737-900 has a wingspan of 34.40 metres, is 42.10 metres long and can carry 177 to 189 passengers for up to 5,000 kilometres at a cruising speed of 5,000 kilometres.Last year the fleet of B737s in service around the world surpassed the phenomenal mark of 100 million hours’ flying time, and now the planes’ performance capability is being enhanced further by “winglets”.These are the upturned tips of the wings which drastically cut down on air turbulence. This aerospace engineering development of recent years in turn enables the twinjet to fly at even a higher altitude, adding to range and cutting down on operating costs.Despite increasing competition from the European plane company Airbus, this American-made evergreen still enjoys great popularity among German air companies. Not only Lufthansa and Hapag-Lloyd, but also Air Berlin, Deutsche BA, Germania and Hamburg International all fly the the B737.One further major difference exists between the “old” Boeing 737 and its present-day successors. Whereas a normal B737 would cost about 12 million dollars back in the 1970s, today a customer must pay 45 to 65 million dollars.