Boeing’s 737 Max successfully completes first flight

Boeing’s first flight of the 737 Max on Friday marks the next iteration for Boeing’s best-selling and longest-lived jetliner — and several more years of work for Wichita employees of Spirit AeroSystems.

The airplane took off from Renton, Wash., at 11:46 a.m. CST and landed two hours and 47 minutes later — 2:33 p.m. CST — at Boeing Field in Seattle.

During the flight, Boeing said the airplane reached a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet and an airspeed of 250 knots, or about 288 miles per hour.

“The flight was a success,” 737 Max chief pilot Ed Wilson said in a Boeing news release. “The 737 Max just felt right in flight giving us complete confidence that this airplane will meet our customers’ expectations.”

The 737 Max that flew Friday will go to launch customer Southwest Airlines, following completion of the flight test program and type certification by the Federal Aviation Administration. Boeing expects the Southwest delivery to occur in the third quarter of 2017.

Friday’s flight comes about six months after Spirit AeroSystems delivered the first Max fuselage. Spirit builds 70 percent of the 737, including the Max.

The fuselages that Spirit builds in Wichita are put on specially configured train cars and transported by rail to Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton. Spirit also manufactures the 737’s pylons and parts of its wing.

“We’re proud to celebrate this first flight milestone with Boeing,” Spirit president and CEO Larry Lawson said in a statement Friday. “Spirit has delivered over 8,000 737s since they entered service and we look forward to continuing the 737 legacy through this newest variant 737 Max.”

The Max is the third generation of the 737 single-aisle airplane, which first entered service in February 1968 with German carrier Lufthansa.

Boeing has 3,072 orders for the Max airplane, which differs from the Next Generation 737 through new, more fuel-efficient CFM International LEAP-1B engines, blended winglets and a new interior for the passenger cabin. Boeing says the Max has 14 percent better fuel efficiency than the Next Generation 737.

Boeing currently produces 42 737s a month. Between 2017 and 2019, Boeing plans three additional production rate increases: 47, 52, and 57 737s a month.

On the Max orders alone — Boeing also has unfilled orders for 1,320 Next Generation 737s — and at the highest production rate of 57 Maxes a month, the newest 737 variant amounts to nearly 4 1/2 years of work for Spirit employees.

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 9:49 AM with the headline "Boeing’s 737 Max successfully completes first flight."