Boeing (
www.boeing.com) marked a key milestone as thousands of employees recently gathered for the debut of the first 737 MAX 10 at the company’s Renton (Washington) factory.
There was a ceremony highlighting the team’s accomplishments in completing production of the newest member of the 737 MAX family.
Mark Jenks, general manager of the 737 programme, said: “Today is not just about a new airplane, it is about the people who design, build and support it.
This team’s relentless focus on safety and quality shows the commitment we have to our airline customers.”
The 737 MAX 10, the largest variant of the MAX family, can seat up to 230 passengers and ‘offers the lowest seat-mile cost of any single-aisle airplane ever produced’.
It will now undergo system checks and engine runs before its first flight next year. The 737 MAX 10 currently has more than 550 orders and commitments from more than 20 customers around the globe.
Meanwhile, Boeing and Emirates signed a purchase agreement at the Dubai Airshow for 30 787-9 Dreamliner airplanes, valued at $8.8 billion according to the list price (the airline had previously signed an initial agreement for the larger 787-10 variant).
As part of the agreement, Emirates will update a portion of its large order book by exercising substitution rights and converting orders for 30 777 airplanes into 30 787-9s.
With this conversion, Emirates remains the world’s biggest 777X customer (with 126 airplanes on order) and the largest 777 operator (with 155 airplanes today).
More than 80 customers around the world have ordered more than 1,400 Dreamliners since the programme’s introduction.