A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in mountains in southern China on a domestic flight on Monday following a sudden descent from cruising altitude. Media said there was no sign of survivors.
The plane was flying from the southwestern city of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, in which the plane descended at a final rate of 31,000 feet a minute, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.
The 737 Next Generation or 737NG includes main models 737-600/700/800/900 series and the extended range -700ER/900ER variants of the Boeing 737 family. The series has been in production since 1996 and was introduced in 1997, with a total order of 15,482 planes , of which 10,583 have been delivered as of October 2020. The main development was to re-engine with the high-pressure ratio CFM56-7.
By the early 1990s, as the stint of MD-90 was picking upmomentum and the MD-80 was slowly being withdrawm from the competition, it had become clear that the new A320 family was a serious threat to Boeing’s market share, as Airbus won previously loyal 737 customers such as Lufthansa and United Airlines.
In November 1993, to still be a key player in the competition in the single-aisle competition, Boeing’s board of directors authorized the Next Generation program to mainly upgrade the 737 Classic series.
In late 1993 following engineering trade studies and discussions with a majority of customers, Boeing proceeded to launch a second derivative of the Boeing 737, the 737 Next Generation (NG) -600/700/800/900 series. These plates featured a redesigned wing with a wider wingspan and larger area, greater fuel capacity, longer range and higher MTOWs. It was equipped with CFM56-7 high-pressure ratio engines, a glass cockpit, and upgraded interior configurations.
The four important models of the series can accommodate seating for 108 to 215 passengers. Over time, the same plane took several forms like the corporate Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) and military P-8 Poseidon aircraft. Following the merger between Boeing with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, the primary competitor for the 737NG series remained only the A320 family.
The Boeing 737-800 came as a stretched version of the 737-700 that was launched on September 5, 1994. The -800 seats 162 passengers in a two-class or 189 passengers in a high-density, one-class layout. The first plane of the series was bought by Hapag-Lloyd Flug (now TUIfly) received the first one in April 1998. The -800 replaced directly the -400 and aging 727-200 of US airlines. It filled also the gap left by Boeing’s decision to discontinue the MD-80 and MD-90 aircraft, following Boeing’s merger with McDonnell Douglas. The 737-800 is the most widely used narrow-body aircraft and competes primarily with the Airbus A320.
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