The 737 is about to reach a new milestone as the 10,000th aircraft is being prepared to enter final assembly in Renton.

The @BoeingAirplanes 737 fuselage has been built in Wichita since 1966. Yesterday, the 10,000th unit rolled off Spirit's production line and began its journey to Boeing's plant in Renton, WA.

https://twitter.com/SpiritAero/status/9 ... 5156617216

WN732 wrote:

Who will be receiving this frame?

It’s a WN 737 MAX 8, fitting if you ask me.

Who will be receiving this frame?

Congratulations to Boeing from a self-confessed Airbus fan!

I don't think this is the 10,000th 737, rather, the 10,000th airframe to come from the production line of Spirit Aerostructures in Wichita.

BWIAirport wrote:

I don't think this is the 10,000th 737, rather, the 10,000th airframe to come from the production line of Spirit Aerostructures in Wichita.

Which would be the 10,000 737.....

https://twitter.com/boeingairplanes/sta ... 4359154688

I don't know why this topic reminded me of Air Serbia which still operates YU-AND, a B733, which was the first aircraft of that kind to be delivered to a scheduled carrier in Europe back in 1985. It's scheduled for retirement by the end of the year. Flew on it some months ago while connecting at BEG. What a fantastic aircraft.

Out of curiosity, I assume this number includes the 6 which rolled into a Montana river back in 2014 and never made it to Renton?

ikolkyo wrote:

WN732 wrote:

Who will be receiving this frame?

It’s a WN 737 MAX 8, fitting if you ask me.

Indeed. Per planespotters, WN has had roughly 10% of all produced 737s

COxt wrote:

Out of curiosity, I assume this number includes the 6 which rolled into a Montana river back in 2014 and never made it to Renton?

Those were just parts at the time, not full aircraft, so I would assume not.

This says 10,000 deliveries too. So that is 10k delivered aircraft.

10,000 eh-Well a massive gongrats well done Boeing!
Now that's how you make $$$$$

Antarius wrote:

ikolkyo wrote:

WN732 wrote:

Who will be receiving this frame?

It’s a WN 737 MAX 8, fitting if you ask me.

Indeed. Per planespotters, WN has had roughly 10% of all produced 737s

Awesome, I hope they will do something more than a sticker on the nose.

Amazing... my first flight was on a B737 (PA 732 from FRA to TXL) ... and possibly my last flight will be on a B737 again, who knows...

ikolkyo wrote:

BWIAirport wrote:

I don't think this is the 10,000th 737, rather, the 10,000th airframe to come from the production line of Spirit Aerostructures in Wichita.

Which would be the 10,000 737.....

https://twitter.com/boeingairplanes/sta ... 4359154688

I suppose this is a philosophical question revolving around when does a 737 fuselage become a 737 aircraft?

It will take airbus about 3 year before they get at the same milestone with the A320.

Antarius wrote:

COxt wrote:

Out of curiosity, I assume this number includes the 6 which rolled into a Montana river back in 2014 and never made it to Renton?

Those were just parts at the time, not full aircraft, so I would assume not.

This says 10,000 deliveries too. So that is 10k delivered aircraft.

Does it? I read the Twitter post like BWI does in that this is the 10k fuselage unit to roll off of Spirit's line and head for Renton, not the 10,000th 737 to roll out of Renton:
"Yesterday, the 10,000th unit rolled off Spirit's production line and began its journey to Boeing's plant in Renton, WA."
The number should be damn near equal but 6 fuselages did roll out of Spirit and never made it to Renton hence my question. I guess the railroad would need to weigh in on whether they were "delivered".

COxt wrote:

Does it? I read the Twitter post like BWI does in that this is the 10k fuselage unit to roll off of Spirit's line and head for Renton, not the 10,000th 737 to roll out of Renton:
"Yesterday, the 10,000th unit rolled off Spirit's production line and began its journey to Boeing's plant in Renton, WA."
The number should be damn near equal but 6 fuselages did roll out of Spirit and never made it to Renton hence my question. I guess the railroad would need to weigh in on whether they were "delivered".

Yet the fuselage label reads "10,000 deliveries" and I would be very surprised if Spirit included those 6 fuselage sections in their delivery totals.

tvh wrote:

It will take airbus about 3 year before they get at the same milestone with the A320.

Having started deliveries 20 years after Boeing.

Its a heck of a milestone that, no one can deny how important the 737 is in aviation history.

travelhound wrote:

ikolkyo wrote:

BWIAirport wrote:

I don't think this is the 10,000th 737, rather, the 10,000th airframe to come from the production line of Spirit Aerostructures in Wichita.

Which would be the 10,000 737.....

https://twitter.com/boeingairplanes/sta ... 4359154688

I suppose this is a philosophical question revolving around when does a 737 fuselage become a 737 aircraft?

Once it hits the Renton production line.

ikolkyo wrote:

travelhound wrote:

ikolkyo wrote:

Which would be the 10,000 737.....

https://twitter.com/boeingairplanes/sta ... 4359154688

I suppose this is a philosophical question revolving around when does a 737 fuselage become a 737 aircraft?

Once it hits the Renton production line.

I would go one step further and say once it gets through even. If an issue is found in the renton line, resulting in it being scrapped/yanked/sent back or whatever, it wouldn't constitute a delivery. It is just a part at that point.

Blerg wrote:

I don't know why this topic reminded me of Air Serbia which still operates YU-AND, a B733, which was the first aircraft of that kind to be delivered to a scheduled carrier in Europe back in 1985. It's scheduled for retirement by the end of the year. Flew on it some months ago while connecting at BEG. What a fantastic aircraft.

You mean the first -300?

Lufthansa had several of the very first 737-100s off the line in 1968.

It becomes an “airplane” when its certificate of airworthiness is issued, not before. Before it is a pile of parts.

GF

777PHX wrote:

Blerg wrote:

I don't know why this topic reminded me of Air Serbia which still operates YU-AND, a B733, which was the first aircraft of that kind to be delivered to a scheduled carrier in Europe back in 1985. It's scheduled for retirement by the end of the year. Flew on it some months ago while connecting at BEG. What a fantastic aircraft.

You mean the first -300?

Lufthansa had several of the very first 737-100s off the line in 1968.

Well that is very obvious since he uses the 733 code, states "of that type", referring to the 733, and the year of 1985 makes it more than apparent , at least to me and probably 95% of the audience here. At least I would certainly hope so.

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

It becomes an “airplane” when its certificate of airworthiness is issued, not before. Before it is a pile of parts.

GF

Oh....now you have just made the discussion even more complicated.

Not being political or trying to support a particular view, but are you saying the fuselage only becomes an aeroplane once it is recognised by the state. I think the workers who put their hard worked hours into building the plane could have a different view.

So according to the article link below, Spirit "delivered" 737 fuselage #5000 on June 11, 2014 (44 months ago) and they apparently ship them almost immediately to Renton from what I can find. Boeing was cranking out 42 completed 737s per month at that time which has now been upped to 47. By my calculation (using an average of 45/month), 1980 aircraft were produced over the past 44 months. Pardon my ignorance but where are they storing the other 3000+ barrels that Spirit delivered over the past 44 months? Is math failing me?
http://www.kansas.com/news/business/avi ... 45938.html

parapente wrote:

10,000 eh-Well a massive gongrats well done Boeing!
Now that's how you make $$$$$

And some have said the 737 is outdated. It was a great design when it first came out and has been refined over the years.

COxt wrote:

So according to the article link below, Spirit "delivered" 737 fuselage #5000 on June 11, 2014 (44 months ago) and they apparently ship them almost immediately to Renton from what I can find. Boeing was cranking out 42 completed 737s per month at that time which has now been upped to 47. By my calculation (using an average of 45/month), 1980 aircraft were produced over the past 44 months. Pardon my ignorance but where are they storing the other 3000+ barrels that Spirit delivered over the past 44 months? Is math failing me?
http://www.kansas.com/news/business/avi ... 45938.html

Looks like that is for NGs only.

tvh wrote:

It will take airbus about 3 year before they get at the same milestone with the A320.

And by that time the 737 will be at another bigger milestone.

Anyone else think it'd be a great sight seeing a brand new 737MAX with Southwest's original Desert Gold livery?

(I might be slightly biased since LAS is infested with Southwest airplanes that are mostly blue)

tvh wrote:

It will take airbus about 3 year before they get at the same milestone with the A320.

It took Douglas about 5 years to build 10,000+ DC-3s

It took Boeing about 7 years to build 10,000+ B-17s

rbavfan wrote:

ikolkyo wrote:

WN732 wrote:

Who will be receiving this frame?

It’s a WN 737 MAX 8, fitting if you ask me.

Actually most fitting would have been Lufthansa as they were launch customer for the 737-100.

That's really reaching... I say WN is more fitting due to them being the largest 737 operator and have taken delivery of a lot of the 737 milestones.

ikolkyo wrote:

WN732 wrote:

Who will be receiving this frame?

It’s a WN 737 MAX 8, fitting if you ask me.

Actually most fitting would have been Lufthansa as they were launch customer for the 737-100.

rbavfan wrote:

ikolkyo wrote:

BWIAirport wrote:

I don't think this is the 10,000th 737, rather, the 10,000th airframe to come from the production line of Spirit Aerostructures in Wichita.

Which would be the 10,000 737.....

https://twitter.com/boeingairplanes/sta ... 4359154688

Remember a few years back they had a derailment and lost I think 3 fuselages. So when complete this 10000th fuselage would be the 9997 delivered and as such WN would get number 9997 unless they also get the one 3 more down the line.

I'm pretty sure they made up for the lost fuselages as there are no missing L/Ns from that time frame.

ikolkyo wrote:

BWIAirport wrote:

I don't think this is the 10,000th 737, rather, the 10,000th airframe to come from the production line of Spirit Aerostructures in Wichita.

Which would be the 10,000 737.....

https://twitter.com/boeingairplanes/sta ... 4359154688

Remember a few years back they had a derailment and lost 6 fuselages. So when complete this 10000th fuselage would be the 9994 delivered and as such WN would get number 9994 unless they also get the one 6 more down the line.

ikolkyo wrote:

rbavfan wrote:

ikolkyo wrote:

It’s a WN 737 MAX 8, fitting if you ask me.

Actually most fitting would have been Lufthansa as they were launch customer for the 737-100.

That's really reaching... I say WN is more fitting due to them being the largest 737 operator and have taken delivery of a lot of the 737 milestones.

Really you don't think the first carrier to ever operate the 737 getting number 10000 would not be more of a milestone? wow.

777PHX wrote:

Blerg wrote:

I don't know why this topic reminded me of Air Serbia which still operates YU-AND, a B733, which was the first aircraft of that kind to be delivered to a scheduled carrier in Europe back in 1985. It's scheduled for retirement by the end of the year. Flew on it some months ago while connecting at BEG. What a fantastic aircraft.

You mean the first -300?

Lufthansa had several of the very first 737-100s off the line in 1968.

Lufthansa was the launch carrier, first delivery and first operator of the type.

COxt wrote:

Antarius wrote:

COxt wrote:

Out of curiosity, I assume this number includes the 6 which rolled into a Montana river back in 2014 and never made it to Renton?

Those were just parts at the time, not full aircraft, so I would assume not.

This says 10,000 deliveries too. So that is 10k delivered aircraft.

Does it? I read the Twitter post like BWI does in that this is the 10k fuselage unit to roll off of Spirit's line and head for Renton, not the 10,000th 737 to roll out of Renton:
"Yesterday, the 10,000th unit rolled off Spirit's production line and began its journey to Boeing's plant in Renton, WA."
The number should be damn near equal but 6 fuselages did roll out of Spirit and never made it to Renton hence my question. I guess the railroad would need to weigh in on whether they were "delivered".

Have to agree with ya. Maybe they mean 10,000 deliveries from Wichita to Renton, and not Renton to customer?

rbavfan wrote:

ikolkyo wrote:

rbavfan wrote:

Actually most fitting would have been Lufthansa as they were launch customer for the 737-100.

That's really reaching... I say WN is more fitting due to them being the largest 737 operator and have taken delivery of a lot of the 737 milestones.

Really you don't think the first carrier to ever operate the 737 getting number 10000 would not be more of a milestone? wow.

Yes because LH has been operating the A320 since the late 80s/early 90s. They never even operated the NG. In this case WN makes the most sense since they have operated every generation of the 737 and are the largest operator.

N626AA wrote:

COxt wrote:

Antarius wrote:

Those were just parts at the time, not full aircraft, so I would assume not.

This says 10,000 deliveries too. So that is 10k delivered aircraft.

Does it? I read the Twitter post like BWI does in that this is the 10k fuselage unit to roll off of Spirit's line and head for Renton, not the 10,000th 737 to roll out of Renton:
"Yesterday, the 10,000th unit rolled off Spirit's production line and began its journey to Boeing's plant in Renton, WA."
The number should be damn near equal but 6 fuselages did roll out of Spirit and never made it to Renton hence my question. I guess the railroad would need to weigh in on whether they were "delivered".

Have to agree with ya. Maybe they mean 10,000 deliveries from Wichita to Renton, and not Renton to customer?

Boeing says it's the 10,000th 737.

https://twitter.com/BoeingAirplanes/sta ... 4359154688

the 10,000 does not include the 6 remakes or the functional test bodies that never flew.. a piece of my memory says some of the early 737-100 fuselages were actually assembled in Seattle Plant II so the 10,000 maybe more of a public relations number than an actual Wichita production number; however since every fuselage (less 6 and the functional test ones) has been or will be delivered to a customer, chances are fuselage 10,000 will be delivered aircraft 10,000, and then again not... as any other unit could be delivery 10,000. since the P-8's screw up the though-put times, engine deliveries and customer auspicious delivery dates, fuselage #10,004 through 10,020 may be the 10,000th delivered.

travelhound wrote:

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

It becomes an “airplane” when its certificate of airworthiness is issued, not before. Before it is a pile of parts.

GF

Oh....now you have just made the discussion even more complicated.

Not being political or trying to support a particular view, but are you saying the fuselage only becomes an aeroplane once it is recognised by the state. I think the workers who put their hard worked hours into building the plane could have a different view.

Technically it's an assembly of parts, but certs are what gives it an identity. Wait, we are talking about aircraft right?

WN732 wrote:

Who will be receiving this frame?

Looks like this will be a Southwest 737 MAX 8.

rbavfan wrote:

777PHX wrote:

Blerg wrote:

I don't know why this topic reminded me of Air Serbia which still operates YU-AND, a B733, which was the first aircraft of that kind to be delivered to a scheduled carrier in Europe back in 1985. It's scheduled for retirement by the end of the year. Flew on it some months ago while connecting at BEG. What a fantastic aircraft.

You mean the first -300?

Lufthansa had several of the very first 737-100s off the line in 1968.

Lufthansa was the launch carrier, first delivery and first operator of the type.

777PHX, Yes, that's why I wrote B733.

hivue wrote:

tvh wrote:

It will take airbus about 3 year before they get at the same milestone with the A320.

Having started deliveries 20 years after Boeing.

Exactly!!

LAXLHR wrote:

hivue wrote:

tvh wrote:

It will take airbus about 3 year before they get at the same milestone with the A320.

Having started deliveries 20 years after Boeing.

Exactly!!

Without wanting to get into this absurd urination contest which seems to happen whenever a milestone for an Airbus or Boeing type is discussed, prior to the first delivery of the A320 Boeing had delivered 1521 737s. This degree of headstart, while representing 20 years' production for the two decades from 1967, represents at today's production rates... about 3 years. In that context of significantly higher production rates for both types compared to 30 years ago, it is neither surprising nor unusual to see that the A320 will reach this milestone in a few years' time.

What will be interesting is can each type surpass the DC-3's total run of 16,079 to become the most produced transport aircraft of all time, and can either surpass the 20,000 barrier. I think the former is doable for both the 737 and A320, while the latter may be a bit of a stretch.

It's funny to think I grew up with books lauding the 727 as the most widely produced airliner. How times have changed.

V/F

Antarius wrote:

ikolkyo wrote:

WN732 wrote:

Who will be receiving this frame?

It’s a WN 737 MAX 8, fitting if you ask me.

Indeed. Per planespotters, WN has had roughly 10% of all produced 737s

And United has had roughly 10% of all produced 727s.

Congrats to Boeing for making it to this unbelievable milestone! If is the the second time they achieve 10000 frames of one aircraft type built, if you include Douglas. First was the DC-3, if you include the C-47 nicknamed Dakota.

Congrats also to Southwest for making it happen. They will be the ones taking delivery of the 10000th 737, and they were the launch customers of the following variants: 300, 500, 700 (yes first to order the NG 737 when it was announced back in the mid 90s), and MAX-7. Had Southwest not asked for any of the variants I mention above, Boeing would have stopped producing the 737 a long time ago already, and of course much fewer than 10000 would have been built, it would not have beaten the 727. If Southwest didn't launch the NG back in the 90s, it would have never existed and Boeing would have stopped producing the 737 already in 2000 upon the delivery of the last Classic variant.

Lufthansa also deserves credit for this, although they haven't taken delivery of a 737 in a long time, because if they didn't ask for the 737 50 years ago, it would have never existed. Boeing would have never designed it.

Does it really matter if it is the 10,000 fuselage or 737 aircraft produced? 10,000 is 10,000 a huge success.