The Boeing 737-100 is the very first in what would become a large family of jet planes bearing this mark. Notable for being the first Boeing launched by a non-US carrier, the baby Boeing as some call it, first took to the sky all the way back on 9 April 1967.
Close collaboration with launch customer Lufthansa resulted in original 60 seat jet being lengthened to seat up to 100 passengers. With power provided by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-1 engines, the aircraft was designed for short routes up to a distance of 1,610 kilometres.
Boeing 737-100 Video
Following on from the excellent video last week about the Short Sandringham flying boat, this time we go back to Seattle for a look at the Boeing 737-100. This video runs for under a minute and shows the roll-out ceremony from 1 January 1967.
A fun thing to watch out for is the Champagne being smashed against the wing by all the ladies. That’s not something you see very often these days! There is also some interesting footage shown around the airport and in flight.
NASA eventually took the original prototype, while three airlines took the rest of the production run. Launch customer Lufthansa had the bulk, with a total of 22 deliveries. Boeing delivered another two and five to Avianca Colombia and Malaysia-Singapore Airlines respectively.
While 30 aircraft seems like a modest beginning, the slightly larger Boeing 737-200 sold 1,095 examples. To date, the entire programme has delivered more than 10,000 versions to airlines throughout the world.
Boeing 737-100 Operators
Researching the production list showed a number of interesting things. All but four of the Lufthansa machines were sold to PEOPLExpress and subsequently ended up at Continental Air Lines. The Avianca ones went to Aloha then Air California, while those built for Malaysia-Singapore Airlines became Singapore Airlines aircraft when that airline split in two. All five eventually landed at Air Florida.
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- Avianca ordered two directly from Boeing
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- Malaysia-Singapore Airlines ordered five
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- Low-cost carrier PEOPLExpress operated 17 aircraft, all from Lufthansa
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- America West operated five, from both Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines
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- Far Eastern Air Transport operated two Boeing 737-100s
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- Aloha also operated two of the original baby Boeing
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- Another airline which operated two, Air California
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- Continental picked up the entire fleet of 17 from PEOPLExpress
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- Ansett New Zealand picked up their four from America West
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- All five operated by Air Florida came from Singapore Airlines
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- SARO operated three examples
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- COPA Panama flew two of them
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- SAVAR operated one ex-Air Florida jet
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- Aero Continente also operated a pair of baby Boeings
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- Faucett Peru also had just one ex-Air Florida
Three of the Lufthansa aircraft went to America West Airlines, then Ansett New Zealand, while another two went to Far Eastern Air Transport and ended up with Aero Continente. Copa and Faucett Peru picked up one each from Air Florida when they went bankrupt, while SARO Peru received three from Continental. SAVAR in Venezuela operated one ex-Air Florida example as well.
Overall Thoughts
Just 30 Boeing 737-100s were produced, comprising of one prototype and 29 production examples. After entering service on 10 February 1968 with Lufthansa, who knew how popular this little jet would become?
None of the 30 original aircraft are flying today. However, travelling on board any Boeing 737 today will give you some idea of what it must have been like back in the beginning.
Have you ever had the opportunity of flying on board a Boeing 737-100? Does it differ much from today? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Ralf Manteufel on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
Malaysia-Singapore Airlines aircraft by Malcolm Nason via Flickr.
PEOPLExpress by Clinton H. Groves on AirlineFan.com via Wikimedia Commons.
Continental Airlines by Alain Durand on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
Air Florida via Friends of Air Florida Airlines on Facebook.
America West by Richard Silagi via Wikimedia Commons.
Ansett New Zealand by Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland via Wikimedia Commons.
Air California by Orange County Archives via Wikimedia Commons.
Far Eastern Air Transport by Paul Chandler via Jetphotos.
Aloha Airlines by J Allen King via Royal S King on Airliners.net.
Aero Continente via Konstantin von Wedelstaedt on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
Copa Panama by Torsten Maiwald on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
SARO Peru by Aero Icarus on Flickr.
Savar via The Boeing 737-100 on Tumblr.
Faucett Peru by Neil Pidduck via Airliners.net.
I was at Air Florida 1981-1982 and probably had flown on all of the. Certainly dispatched all of them. They were real hot rods since they had -9 engines whereas the -200 Basics had -7 engines. These -100 birds also had wire HF antenna from the fuselage to the tail, since Singapore had used them on overwater routes.
Pretty cool to hear they were real hot rods, and nice to know about the HF antenna. That all made them stand out from the rest. Air Florida still has one of the prettiest liveries out there, in my opinion. Excellent that you worked for them!! Thanks for the comment.
I flew on the 737-100 with CO in the 90s. The F cabins were small, only 8 seats, but they otherwise had the full 90s-era CO interior that persisted until recently. The Y cabin was comically small, only about 80 seats, IIRC. At the 2L door in the rear, instead of a regular door and slide, there was a gigantic built-in airstair that sat in the cabin while not in use.
Aside from those things, it was mostly indistinguishable from a 737-200.
Alaska had some 737-200 Combis with rear air stairs.
See the Lufthansa and Avianca photos for the original reverse thruster design which was eventually changed due to lifting because of unintended airflow. Early builds could be and were retrofitted.
I was reading about that, with regards to the reverse thrust design. It was carried over from the Boeing 727, but had the unfortunate effect of lifting the Boeing 737-100 up, so less weight on the undercarriage and therefore harder to stop. They were all retrofitted as you mentioned.
Yes, they are quite similar. The the longer version was delivered only a few days after the first -100. I don’t think I’d mind an 80 seat economy cabin really, the less people the better. Makes for faster on and faster off! Nice that you’ve been on board one though. Now, a picture of that airstair would be worth seeing! I’ll see if I can hunt one down. Thanks for the comment!
Such beautiful liveries… not like all these white and dark blue ones these days that every other airline has…
They really do stand out with all their bright colours and different designs, don’t they?
I was lucky enough to fly an Aloha -100 from HNL to OGG once. Short flight!
Haha, I bet it was a short flight!! Those inter-island trips are not long!