First look: Boeing’s new 737 MAX 8 | CNN

First glimpse of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 —

Final assembly is underway on the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the first member of the aerospace company's new, more efficient single-aisle airplane family. The first 737 MAX is expected to roll out by the end of the year.

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Beoing's Advanced Technology winglets —

The wings feature new "advanced technology" winglets designed exclusively for the 737 Max. Boeing says the winglets will offer up to 1.8% additional fuel-efficiency improvement over today's inline winglet designs.

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Roll-out by the end of the year —

The first 737 MAX is on track to roll out by the end of the year, with the maiden voyage planned for early 2016. While we wait, here's a look back at the Boeing story so far.

Courtesy of Boeing

Boeing 80 —

Built in 1928, the Model 80 was America's first airliner designed to transport passengers on a scheduled service. It had room for three crew, 18 passengers and 408 kilograms of cargo. The fuselage was covered in fabric. Pilots accustomed to open-air cockpits complained about the enclosed flight deck. Cost: $140,000.

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Boeing 247 —

Debuting in 1933, the Boeing 247 held three crew, 10 passengers and 182 kilograms of mail. It had a range of 1,198 kilometers and a ceiling of 25,400 feet. The world's first truly modern airliner, it was also the first to incorporate and combine retractable landing gear. It took 20 hours to fly from New York to Los Angeles, including seven stops.

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Boeing 314 Flying Clipper Boat —

The "Jumbo" of its time, the 314 Clipper made the first scheduled trans-Atlantic flight in 1939. It held 74 passengers and cemented regular flying on long-haul routes from North America across the Pacific to Asia and across the Atlantic to Europe. Its well-appointed cabin heralded the real birth of in-flight service.

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Boeing 307 Stratoliner —

Based on the B-17 military bomber, Boeing's 307 Stratoliner first flew on December 31, 1938. It was the first commercial transport aircraft with a pressurized cabin, allowing it to fly above the clouds and bad weather. Howard Hughes bought one, and turned it into a "flying penthouse" with a bedroom, two bathrooms and lounge area.

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Boeing 707 —

The 707 doesn't look like much now, but it started the 7-series of Boeing planes and is viewed as the jet that ushered in commercial air travel. It was the dominant passenger airplane of the 1960s.

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Boeing 727 —

Boeing struck gold with the 727. Just 250 were planned, but demand was so high a total of 1,832 were built by the time production ceased in 1984. The most distinctive of Boeing's early jets, with a T-shaped tail and a trio of rear-mounted engines, the noisy 727 took its first flight in 1963. It was designed to use smaller, less developed runways, making it amenable to a host of out of the way airports.

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Boeing 737 —

Chances are you've flown on a 737, which has been around since 1967. The best-selling jet in aviation history offered six-abreast seating, allowing more passengers per flight. The number of seats was increased by moving the engines under the wing. Flight engineers were made redundant by the 737's technology and a two-crew cockpit became standard.

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Best of Boeing —

The Boeing 747 is one of the iconic commercial jets of the 20th century. It arrived in the late 1960s largely because Pan Am thought bigger planes would be the answer to passenger congestion at airports. The 747 was 2.5 times the size of Boeing's earlier 707 model and was the world's first wide-body aircraft. Its distinctive front bulge came from placing the cockpit on an upper deck, allowing a freight-loading door in the nose. Pilots were trained to taxi this beast by sitting three stories high on a moving truck. Lufthansa received deliver of the 1,500th 747 on June 28, 2014.

courtesy Boeing

Boeing 777 —

Upon hitting the skies in 1994, the 777 became the widest, most spacious jetliner in its class. Carriers have increasingly used the 777 as a fuel-efficient alternative to other wide-body jets, particularly for long-haul flights.

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner —

The Dreamliner is said to have revolutionized jetliner design and brought commercial aeronautics into the 21st century. Its "plastic" fuselage makes it lighter and 20% more fuel-efficient than similar-sized aircraft, while it claims to enhance the passenger experience with bigger windows and more space. Nevertheless, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner launch gave the company a nightmarish ride. The four-month global grounding of the entire Dreamliner fleet in early 2013, kicked off by a battery fire on an ANA flight in January, has been unprecedented in the past 30 years. The grounding was lifted at the end of April 2013.

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Boeing 777X —

Boeing officially launched its 777X program in 2013 at the Dubai Air Show. The 9X version will have a range of over 14,075 kilometers (8,746 miles) and fit 400 passengers. Notable changes from the original 777 include a longer, composite wing and a new GE engine. Production is scheduled to begin in 2017 and first delivery is targeted for 2020.

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Boeing through the ages: A retrospective

CNN —

It’s all about the winglets.

Boeing has released new photos offering a tantalizing glimpse of the 737 MAX 8 – the first member of the U.S. aviation giant’s new, more efficient single-aisle plane family.

Still under construction in a dedicated new facility at Boeing’s production center in Renton, near Seattle, the first completed 737 MAX is on track to be rolled out by the end of the year.

Boeing hopes the plane’s design will give it the edge it needs to challenge the success of rival Airbus’s year-old A320neo.

It’s a battle that could come down to the new design of its winglets – the distinctive curling shapes at the tip of the aircraft’s wings.

Boeing says these’ll offer up to 1.8% additional fuel-efficiency improvement over today’s inline winglet designs.

737 MAX vs. Airbus A320neo

“It’s just one of the features that differentiate the 737 MAX and make it an amazingly fuel-efficient machine,” says Keith Leverkuhn, vice president and general manager of the 737 MAX program.

The first 737 MAX is scheduled to fly in early 2016, with launch customer Southwest Airlines scheduled to take delivery late in 2017.

Airbus’s A320neo has also got a substantial head start on orders, with 4,100 reported in August 2015, compared to the 737 MAX’s 2,869.

However, with the 737 Max promising to be 20% more fuel-efficient than the current 737, and with Boeing claiming to have operating costs that are 8% lower per seat than its nearest competitor, the 737 Max team will be hoping to close the gap.