On May 15, 2025, Boeing marked the 30th anniversary of the first Boeing 777 delivery, to United Airlines.
That first delivery of the aircraft which would soon become Boeing’s flagship model took place in Everett, Washington, on May 15, 1995.
The very first airframe to enter commercial service, a B777-200 named “The Ship of the Future” with registration N777UA, was deployed on its first revenue service with United Airlines a few weeks later, on June 7, 1995, on the route between Washington Dulles (IAD) and London Heathrow (LHR).
The Boeing 777, in its multiple versions, has been one of Boeing’s most successful airliner programs ever, with over 1,700 of the type being built to date.
The “triple seven”, as it is popularly known, has also set several records throughout the years.
It was the first commercial aircraft to be designed entirely through computer-aided design and the first twin-engine aircraft to be certified for 180 minutes ETOPS. The B777-200LR version also holds the record to the longest flight without refueling completed by an airliner (set during a demonstration flight from Hong Kong to London across the Pacific in 2005).
What’s more, for about a quarter of a century, the GE90-115B engine which powers several versions of the B777, was the most powerful commercial aircraft engine. This has now been surpassed by the GE90X, which is, in fact, designed to power the next iteration of the triple seven, the B777X.
Over the last few years, Boeing has been winding down production of first generation 777s, although several dozen of the type, mostly freighters, remain to be built and delivered, in anticipation of the entry into service of the new 777X.
This new and thoroughly updated iteration of the B777 family will be produced, at least initially, in two versions, the 777-8 and 777-9. The latter will be the largest aircraft in Boeing’s commercial product offering.
The B777X first flew in January 2020 and, while the program has been subject to serious delays, it is expected to obtain certification and enter service by 2026, with Lufthansa as the launch customer.
As of May 18, 2025, the Ch-aviation database shows that Boeing has racked up, to date, 521 orders for the both versions of the B777X. This means that the B777, in its latest incarnation, will most likely remain in production for many years, and possibly decades, to come.
