City Jets: Lufthansa’s 737 Launch

Boeing focused its initial jet offerings on the long and then medium range sections of the market leaving fertile ground for competitors to produce jets for the short hauls. In fact Boeing was so late to the market that it couldn't find a launch customer out of the traditional US trunk airlines and instead surprised everyone by looking towards Europe. Lufthansa and the 737 would prove a match made in heaven.

Lufthansa Boeing 737-130 D-ABEA Sovereign 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

By 1965 Lufthansa had only been flying for ten years, after its belated re-establishment of services following World War Two. Nonetheless it was rapidly growing into one of the world’s premier international airlines and was beginning to standardise around a Boeing fleet with 707s, 720s and 727-100s already in service. Even so it was not a particularly large airline at this point and certainly did not have the lustre of the US majors. It was something of a surprise therefore that on February 19, 1965 Boeing announced Lufthansa as the launch customer for its new short haul jet, the Boeing 737, with 21 aircraft ordered for the series 100.

Boeing had been late to the market with a short haul offering so that by 1965 almost all the world’s major airlines had already ordered one of the several excellent alternatives. Most European airlines plus United had ordered the Sud Aviation Caravelle whilst the rest of the field had decided upon either the BAC One-Eleven (Braniff, American, Mohawk) or the Douglas DC-9. In fact just six days after the Lufthansa order Eastern also selected the Douglas jet.

N73700 the series 100 prototype

The Lufthansa order was the first time that a non-US launch customer was found for an American airliner. It hadn’t been repeated into the 1990s. Nowadays the 737 seems like a dead cert for success with so many thousands of orders behind it and a legacy of more than 10 variants but at the time Boeing was taking a major gamble.

The prototype 737 joined NASA as N515NA. She is nowadays preserved at the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field. Photo by NASA from Wikipedia

Unlike the competing products Boeing decided to forego the rear engine T-tail configuration and instead fit the engines under the wing. More importantly, to speed the development cycle, Boeing also chose to use the same fuselage cross-section as its existing family of airliners. This made it possible for the 737 to have six abreast seating and offer greater comfort than competing jets and to have nearly 80% commonality with the popular 727.

D-ABEC - the first 737-130 delivered

The standardisation of the fuselage also meant that airlines could standardise the internal layout of their Boeing fleets sharing seats and galleys, plus ground handling equipment. These were powerful factors in the favour of the Baby Boeing and were instrumental in enabling Lufthansa to chose the 737 over the competing DC-9 to replace its fleet of piston Convairs, Connies and turboprop Viscounts.

Despite these advantages the late arrival of the 737 onto the market, the cheapness of fuel and the glut of relatively young prop aircraft were enough to damage the initial sales of the 737. In fact the initial series 100 only achieved sales of 30 aircraft. In addition to Lufthansa’s 21 there were 5 for Malaysia-Singapore, a pair for Avianca and the prototype, which passed to NASA.

It wasn't long before the 737s were wearing the more familiar LH scheme. Here is D-ABEM at Manchester in 1972. Photo by Phillip C from Wikipedia

Boeing had in fact already created a second variant of the 737 before the series 100 flew for the first time. This series 200 was stretched by 1.8 metres (6 feet) increasing capacity from 100 to 115 (and later 130). These changes and the promise of commonality won over United and on April 5, 1960 they ordered 40 of the series 200. Nonetheless orders only dribbled in over the next few years and at one point Boeing considered closing the production line altogether. Fortunately Boeing’s keenness to meet customer needs and the creation of the Advanced series 200 saw the type survive and prosper into the 1970s and beyond.

D-ABEB shows the shortness of the series 100 well late in her LH career in 1980. Photo by Aero Icarus from Wikipedia

The first 737-100 itself flew on April 9, 1967, Lufthansa dubbed the 737s as ‘City Jets’, a moniker they would continue to wear into the 1980s, although the 737 itself acquired several other nicknames that were less complimentary like ‘Fat Albert’ and in its early years the ‘Pig’.

D-ABED looks brand new here in 1968 at Hanover. Photo by Ralf Manteufel from Wikipedia

Lufthansa’s first production aircraft, D-ABEC ‘Osnabruck’ was accepted in December 1967 and used for crew training at Tucson, Arizona from January 4, 1968. The first aircraft in Germany was actually D-ABED ‘Flensburg’ which arrived on February 2nd and entered service on domestic routes on February 10. The 737s were popular and Lufthansa was able to swap the 727s and 737s in their fleet as capacity demanded. All the 737-130s were delivered from February 1968 to February 1969.

Lufthansa continued its growth by ordering the series 200 as well. Deliveries of 6 convertible 737-230Cs began in December 1969 and the aircraft were registered D-ABBE-D-ABHE (with the penultimate letter changing in sequence excluding D-ABEE). Several of the series 130s saw some service with Lufthansa’s charter subsidiary Condor Flugdienst. They provided valuable service throughout the 1970s but by 1980 Lufthansa was looking to replace them.

D-ABMA the first of the last batch of 737-230s delivered as late as 1985

What could replace a 737 but another 737? Lufthansa accordingly ordered a second batch of 737-230s (standard Advanced models this time) and deliveries began in May 1981 with D-ABFA. Thirty six new 230s (in the D-ABFx and D-ABHx sequence arrived up to March 1982. These were followed by a final 6 737-230s as late as 1985 (in the D-ABMx sequence) before deliveries swapped over to the newer 737-300 in 1986. Lufthansa’s association with the 737 would also include the series 430 and 530, however the switch over to the Airbus A320 family signalled the end of 737 orders with the German flag carrier.

Below: Lufthansa 737-230 D-ABFX by Gemini Jets and 737-300 D-ABXZ by Aeroclassics

The 737-130s themselves were sold on in 1981 as series 200s arrived. The majority went to the new PeoplExpress who got a great deal for these well maintained aircraft. Three aircraft (D-ABEA, B and F) went to Far Eastern Air Transport of Taiwan whilst a pair (D-ABEC and ABED) moved to America West in 1984 after leases elsewhere. Most of the PeoplExpress frames ended up in the Continental fleet and gave good service into the late 90s. One aircraft (D-ABEB) survived in service with Aero Continente of Peru into the 2000s as OB-1745.

Lufthansa Boeing 737-330 D-ABXZ Aeroclassics 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

The last revenue Lufthansa 737 service took place on October 29, 2016 when D-ABEF (a 737-300) returned to Frankfurt. The Baby Boeing has served wearing the crane of Lufthansa for 48 years and the last actual Lufthansa 737 flight (a ceremonial trip) flew Hamburg to Frankfurt two days later using D-ABEC a series 330 that shared the registration of Lufthansa’s first 737-130 all those years before.

References

1988. Minton, David. H. This Little Piggy Went to the Bank. Airliners no 3
1991. Davies, R.E.G. Lufthansa: An Airlines and its aircraft. Paladwr Press