Following its glitzy rollout last Sunday, Boeing's stretched 737-900 is scheduled to make its maiden flight early next month and immediately launch into a rigorous flight test schedule.

A 381-hour program is planned, with FAA certification targeted for April 2001. Launch customer Alaska Airlines is to take delivery of its first 737-900 that same month. Continental, KLM and Korean Air also are ­900 customers. The aircraft can carry up to 189 passengers in single-class configuration.

The 737-900's CFM56-7 engines, a development of the CFM56-3 rated from 18,500-27,300 lbs thrust, have logged more than 3.6 million flight hours and 1.9 million cycles in 2.5 years of revenue service with earlier "Next Generation" 737-600/700/800 models. During that time the CFM56­7 has achieved a 0.012 shop visit rate and 0.004 in-flight shutdown rate. Aircraft dispatch reliability has been 99.93%.

Southwest Airlines, which has the highest 737NG utilization rate, averages 13 flights a day with each of its 737-700s.

By Paul Proctor