With the canary yellow and silver jet with black trim back on the ground after its maiden flight, Boeing President Bill Allen was asked about the future of the 737.
The company's newest jet had taken off from Boeing Field two hours earlier and, after cruising around Puget Sound, landed at Paine Field in Everett, where reporters gathered around a smiling Allen.
It was April 9, 1967.
Could Boeing sell a few hundred planes? someone asked Allen.
"A few hundred?" Allen replied in mock amazement. "You are being conservative."
Today, Boeing will deliver its 5,000th 737 to Southwest Airlines, the world's biggest low-cost airline,which tied its fortunes to a jet that almost didn't make it.
Last year, Boeing sold 575 of the single-aisle jets. It was the first time more than 500 orders had been placed in one year for any Boeing commercial jetliner. Boeing has 45 orders so far in 2006, which pushes the 737 backlog to 1,154 planes that have been ordered but not yet built.
seattlepi
The company's newest jet had taken off from Boeing Field two hours earlier and, after cruising around Puget Sound, landed at Paine Field in Everett, where reporters gathered around a smiling Allen.
It was April 9, 1967.
Could Boeing sell a few hundred planes? someone asked Allen.
"A few hundred?" Allen replied in mock amazement. "You are being conservative."
Today, Boeing will deliver its 5,000th 737 to Southwest Airlines, the world's biggest low-cost airline,which tied its fortunes to a jet that almost didn't make it.
Last year, Boeing sold 575 of the single-aisle jets. It was the first time more than 500 orders had been placed in one year for any Boeing commercial jetliner. Boeing has 45 orders so far in 2006, which pushes the 737 backlog to 1,154 planes that have been ordered but not yet built.
seattlepi
