Boeing has celebrated the completion of its 1,000th B777.
More than 5,000 employees, suppliers, customers and government officials celebrated the landmark aircraft at a special event at the planemaker’s factory in Washington state on Friday. The 1,000th B777 will be delivered to Emirates later this month.
“As the largest 777 customer, it’s very appropriate that Emirates is the recipient of our milestone 1,000th 777,” said Jim Albaugh, President & CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Emirates has set an industry high bar in providing excellent customer service and we’re honoured that the 777 is central to its efforts to be a global airline leader.”
B777 production is currently at an all-time high, and a 20% rate increase begins this autumn, increasing from seven to 8.3 airplanes per month. Boeing will begin building 100 B777s per year from 2013.
Emirates is the 777’s largest customer with 102 of the aircraft now in its fleet and 93 more on order.
“Emirates is honoured to be the recipient of Boeing’s 1000th 777 aircraft whose advanced long range capacity has been instrumental in our success of becoming a truly global airline,” said HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman & Chief Executive of Emirates. “As the world’s largest operator of the 777, we have 93 more 777s on order, which is testament to our belief in the product and the role this aircraft will play in our goal to further establish Dubai as a central gateway to worldwide air travel.”
“The ultimate measure of success in this business is when you reach the 1,000 mark,” said Larry Loftis, who until recently was Vice President & General Manager of the 777 program. “Reaching this milestone puts the 777 in an exclusive club and I would like to thank all our employees, suppliers and customers who made it possible.”
“Reaching this milestone requires two things: a product that provides exceptional value and a world-class production system to reliably bring that product to the marketplace – and we have both on the 777 program. As a result, the 777 program reached this milestone faster than any other twin-aisle airplane because of the 777’s proven performance, exceptional value, continuous innovation and progressive environmental performance,” Loftis added.
The 1,000th 777 is a 777-300ER (extended range) model that seats 360 passengers in a three-class configuration.
