Boeing 737
Boeing 737, Source: Boeing.
Forty-six years young and still going strong, our next entree on the Boeing’s best planes-list is a no-brainer: the Boeing 737. 93.7 feet long, and with a 93-foot wingspan, the original 737 was nicknamed “the square” for its nearly equal measurements. It flew 1,150 miles on a full tank of gas and carried as many as 107 passengers. Later versions, running up through today’s 737 Next Generation and 737 MAX iterations, can carry as many as twice that number.
Currently en route to delivering well over 10,000 planes, with more than 7,000 already in the hands of its customers, the 737 is the most successful commercial airplane ever built. Now in its fifth decade of production, the 737 remains so popular that Boeing quite literally cannot build the planes fast enough to keep up with demand.
Boeing 747
Boeing 747, Source: Boeing.
Boeing designed and built the world’s first jumbo jet in just 16 months, and then got it airborne in 1969. Perhaps Boeing’s most iconic airplane, the first Boeing 747 stood six stories tall and weighed nearly 370 tons. It was so big that Boeing had to construct an entirely new factory to build it. The existing workplaces just didn’t fit.
For nearly 40 years, it was the world’s biggest passenger jet, carrying as many as 550 passengers on flights as long as 6,000 miles. Needless to say, it’s still flying today. In fact, just last week Boeing sold two more of them. (Freighter versions).
Boeing 777
Boeing 777, Source: Boeing.
Last but not least — and really, not even last — we’ll end this list with the plane that inspired it: the Boeing 777, which crash-landed and caught fire at San Francisco International Airport last weekend — yet was so well built that it managed to keep all but two passengers alive through the crash, out of hundreds aboard.
How great is the 777, and how helpful is its reputation to Boeing? It’s great enough that last week’s crash was only the second significant accident recorded in the Triple-7’s 18-year history. Great enough that, according to famed Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, last weekend was the only recorded instance in which a passenger aboard a 777 died. And it’s great enough to have persuaded Boeing’s customers to line up and buy 1,100 777s over the years.
The biggest twin-engine commercial jet in the world, the 777 was Boeing’s first plane to be designed entirely on computer using 3-D graphics. It sports wings spanning nearly 200 feet, a range upwards of 8,000 miles, and capacity to haul up to 440 passengers more than one-third of the way around the earth before needing to refuel.
Foolish takeaway
Boeing’s planes have, and Boeing’s stock has, stood the test of time — 97 years, to be precise. Does all this prove conclusively that Boeing stock should be bought today, at a 19 P/E ratio? Maybe, maybe not. But before you count Boeing out over a couple of mishaps, remember — its biggest rival today, Airbus parent EADS , costs more than 25 times earnings. And EADS has only been around since 2000.
Seems to me that investors who are valuing Boeing at a discount to its less-proven rival are doing Boeing a disservice.
The article 7 (Civilian) Planes That Made Boeing Great originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rich Smith.
Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Ford and Nike.
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