The largest aircraft in Boeing’s 737 Max family, the 737-10 completed its first test flight last week.
The test aircraft took off from Renton Field in Renton, Washington, at 10:07 AM and landed at 12:38 PM. at Boeing Field in Seattle.
Boeing 737 chief pilot Captain Jennifer Henderson said, “The airplane performed beautifully. The profile we flew allowed us to test the airplane’s systems, flight controls and handling qualities, all of which checked out exactly as we expected.”
The flight signals the start of the 737-10’s flight test program before its its scheduled entry into service in 2023.
According to Boeing, the 737-10 can carry up to 230 passengers while reducing carbon emissions by 14% and noise by 50% compared to current 737s.
“The 737-10 is an important part of our customers’ fleet plans, giving them more capacity, greater fuel efficiency and the best per-seat economics of any single-aisle airplane,” said Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Our team is committed to delivering an airplane with the highest quality and reliability.”
Boeing completed firm configuration of the 737-10 in January 2018. The aircraft is 66in (1.6m) longer than the -7379 and incorporates redesigned main landing gear for necessary rear fuselage take-off and landing runway clearance.
Over 70% of the necessary engineering details required for initial production were completed by Boeing by September 2018 and production of the 737-10 was initially scheduled to start in 2019 with entry into service during 2020.
However, the program has suffered from delays because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the downturn in the aviation sector and the 20-month grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max 8 .
