Boeing: Commercial Airplanes -- 777 Program Awards

Boeing 777 Program Awards, Records and Firsts

2002

The 777 takes top honors in the 2002 Airfinance Journal operators and investors poll.
Air Transport World magazine gives its 2002 Airline Technology Achievement award to Boeing for its 777 airplane.

Passenger Preference: A survey of nearly 6,000 passengers flying on long-range routes to and from Europe in first, business and economy classes revealed an overwhelming preference for the 777. The survey, conducted by six airlines based in Europe and the Middle East, found that the Boeing 777 was preferred by more than three out of four passengers who had flown aboard both the 777 and the Airbus A330/340 airplanes.

Certification: The 777-300 earned type certification from the FAA and JAA and received FAA approval for 180-minute ETOPS -- all on the same day.

Distance and Speed Records: The 777-200ER (extended range), in Malaysia Airlines livery, established a new Great Circle Distance Without Landing record. The airplane flew from Boeing Field, Seattle, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, covering 12,455.34 statute miles (20,044.20 km). The same airplane later went on to complete a record-setting circumnavigation of the world, establishing a new speed world record for its size and class of airplane. The Speed Around the World, Eastbound record was set by traveling the Seattle-Kuala Lumpur-Seattle route at an average speed of 553 miles per hour (889 km/h).

Smithsonian Achievement Award: The 777 received the 1996 Trophy for Current Achievement from the National Air & Space Museum Smithsonian Institution. The annual award recognizes outstanding achievements in the fields of aerospace science and technology. The 777 Program was noted for being "a model of efficiency, utilizing the very latest technology, as well as developing a wide range of new technologies, to design, fabricate, flight test and finally to certify the aircraft for international use."
Industry Awards: The 777 won the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy, awarded by the National Aeronautic Association. The award honored the 777 as the top aeronautical achievement of 1995. Boeing was recognized specifically for "designing, manufacturing and placing into service the world's most technologically advanced airline transport."

Computing: The 777 received a Smithsonian Computerworld Award for digital product definition and preassembly in manufacturing.
Pilots: Flight-test pilots Capts. John Cashman and Ken Higgins, the flight crew that piloted the Boeing 777 twinjet on its historic June 1994 first flight, were honored with separate aerospace industry awards for their contributions to aviation and flight testing. Cashman received the Society of Experimental Test Pilots' Iven C. Kincheloe Award, while Higgins received the National Aviation Club's "Cliff Henderson Award for Achievement."
Certification: The Boeing 777-200 received type and production certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) on the same day (April 19, 1995), an unprecedented achievement. The 777 became the first airplane in aviation history to earn FAA approval to fly extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) at service-entry.
Speed Records: The 777 established National Aeronautic Association-certified speed records between Kiruna, Sweden, and Seattle; Bangkok and Seattle; Paris and Seattle; Frankfurt and Seattle; and Geneva and Seattle. The 777 wing design allowed the airplane to climb quickly to initial cruise altitudes of up to 2,000 feet higher than comparable transports.

Flight Deck: The 777 flight deck won the Industrial Design Excellence Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America.

Interiors: The passenger cabin of the new Boeing 777 jetliner received the Industrial Design Excellence Award. This is the first time the Industrial Designers Society of America honored an airplane interior.