Boeing History

The Boeing Logbook: 1997 - 2001

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

1997 Jan. 6: Boeing offers 767-400ERX for sale to world's airlines.

Feb. 9: The first Next-Generation Boeing 737, a 737-700, makes its first flight.

April 2: A Boeing 777-200 sets a record for flying around the world, eastbound, in 41 hours and 59 minutes.

April 18: The Rocketdyne Division of Boeing North American wins the top NASA award for excellence.

June 30: The Boeing 737-800 is unveiled outside the Renton, Wash., assembly plant.

July 31: John F. McDonnell, son of founder James S. McDonnell, retires, and thus becomes the last chairman of McDonnell Douglas. He remains a member of The Boeing Company board of directors.

Aug. 1: The Boeing Company, along with its North American component, merges with McDonnell Douglas Corp. Phil Condit continues as Boeing chairman and CEO and Harry Stonecipher, former McDonnell Douglas CEO, becomes Boeing president and chief operating officer.

Aug. 7: The first of 45 Boeing MD 600N helicopters to serve the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is unveiled at the U.S. Border Patrol's San Diego, Calif., headquarters.

Aug. 20: The first Delta II rocket with the new Boeing decal on its side is launched, carrying a communications satellite.

Sept. 7: The Boeing F/A-22 Raptor makes its first flight. It reaches an altitude of 15,000 feet in less than three minutes.

Nov. 5: A replenishment satellite built by Boeing for the U.S. Air Force's Global Positioning System (GPS) is carried into orbit aboard the Boeing Delta II expendable launch vehicle.

Nov. 14: Alaska Airlines becomes the launch customer for the Boeing 737-900, ordering 10 and taking options for 10 more.

Dec. 8: A Hughes Space & Communications satellite HS 601 is launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., by an Atlas IIAS rocket.

1998 Jan. 8: Boeing changes the name of the MD-95 jetliner to the 717-200.

April 1: The production Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow and the prototype Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopters appear in public together for the first time at the 1998 Army Aviation Association of America meeting in Charlotte, N.C.

March 11: Boeing delivers its first two 767 AWACS to Japan.

May 4: The 777-300 earns FAA type certification.

June 10: The first 717-200 rolls out at the Douglas Products Division plant in Long Beach, Calif.

June 24: Boeing delivers its first production Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) to the Department of Defense.

June 29: The second DarkStar completes its first flight.

Oct. 4: The Odyssey, the self-propelled launch platform for the Sea Launch program, arrives at its home port in Long Beach. The 20-story-high, 436-foot-long Odyssey traveled through the Suez Canal and across the Indian and Pacific Oceans from Vyborg, Russia.

Oct. 16: The U.S. Air Force announces procurement of 19 Delta IV launches for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, valued at $1.38 billion.

Nov. 6: The first production F/A-18E/F Super Hornet makes its first flight.

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1999 Jan. 5: Boeing delivers the last two of four 767 AWACS aircraft ordered by the government of Japan.

Jan. 15: The first U.S. Super Hornet squadron is established at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif.

Jan. 19: Boeing announces it will sell its light commercial helicopter product lines, including the MD Explorer, the MD 600N and the MD 500 series, to MD Helicopters Inc.

Jan. 22: The 737-600 makes its first flight.

March 5: North American's past president and CEO Lee Atwood dies at the age of 94.

March 27: Sea Launch successfully completes the first commercial launch from a floating platform at sea.

April 30: Boeing is selected by the Department of Defense to act as lead system integrator for the National Missile Defense program. The three-year contract is worth approximately $1.6 billion.

June 7: Boeing delivers the first new F-15E Eagle to the U.S. Air Force since 1994. (Between June 1994 and April 1999, 75 F-15s were delivered to the air forces of Israel and Saudi Arabia.)

July 27: Rollout of the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ). On Oct. 11 Boeing Business Jets will launch the larger BBJ 2.

Aug. 2: First flight of the 757-300.

Aug. 26: The 767-400ER (extended range) rolls out of the Boeing factory in Everett, Wash.

Nov. 2: The first Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missiles (CALCM) to be converted are rolled out at the company's Weapons Programs facility in St. Charles, Mo.

Nov. 15: The U.S. Postal Service unveils the new 33-cent "Jumbo Jet" postage stamp honoring the Boeing 747.

Dec. 9: The last Classic 737 is rolled off the Renton, Wash., assembly line, ending a production run of 1,988 airplanes, and Boeing delivers the 100th AH-64D Apache Longbow to the U.S. Army.

Dec. 22: Hughes Space & Communications HS 702 satellite is launched by an Ariane 44L for PanAmSat Corp.

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2000 Jan. 7: The first two 717-200 airliners for Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing Co. are presented to Olympic Aviation.

Jan. 13: Boeing and Hughes Electronics Corp. announce that Boeing will acquire Hughes' space and communications business for $3.75 billion in cash.

Feb. 11: The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet wins the Collier Trophy for 1999.

March 28: Nine metric tons of relief supplies are carried to Johannesburg, South Africa, aboard a 767-200ER on its delivery flight to Mozambique's national airline, Linhas Aйreas de Mozambique.

April 27: Boeing announces plans to develop