Background In the early 1970s, following the launch of the first wide-body airliner, the
747,
Boeing began considering further developments of its narrow-body
727. Designed for short and medium length routes, the
trijet was the best-selling jetliner of the 1960s and a mainstay of the U.S. domestic airline market. Studies focused on improving the 189-seat , the most successful variant. The former was a cheaper derivative using the 727's existing technology and tail-mounted engine configuration, Work on both proposals accelerated as a result of the airline industry upturn in the late 1970s. By 1978, development studies focused on two variants: a with seating for 160, and a with room for over 180 seats. New features included a redesigned wing, under-wing engines, and lighter materials, while the forward fuselage, cockpit layout, and
T-tail configuration were retained from the 727. Boeing planned for the aircraft to offer the lowest fuel burn per passenger-kilometer of any narrow-body airliner. On August 31, 1978, Eastern Air Lines and British Airways became the first carriers to publicly commit to the 7N7 when they announced launch orders totaling 40 aircraft for the version.
Design effort The 757 was intended to be more capable and more efficient than the preceding 727. The focus on
fuel efficiency reflected airline concerns over
operating costs, which had grown amid rising oil prices during the
Yom Kippur War of 1973. Design targets included a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption from new engines, plus 10 percent from aerodynamic improvements, versus preceding aircraft. 757-200, showing fuselage profile,
wing dihedral, and
RB211 engines|alt=Forward view of aircraft, showing fuselage profile, two circular engines. The twin-engine configuration was chosen for greater fuel efficiency versus three- and four-engine designs. Launch customers
Eastern Air Lines and
British Airways selected the turbofan built by
Rolls-Royce, which was capable of of
thrust. This marked the first time that a Boeing airliner was launched with engines produced outside the U.S.
General Electric also offered its engine early in the program, but eventually abandoned its involvement due to insufficient demand. As development progressed, the 757 increasingly departed from its 727 origins and adopted elements from the 767, To reduce risk and cost, Boeing combined design work on both twinjets, In early 1979, a common two-crew member glass cockpit was adopted for the two aircraft, including shared instrumentation,
avionics, and
flight management systems. In October 1979 the nose was widened and dropped to reduce aerodynamic noise by six dB, to improve the flight deck view and to give more working area for the crew and for greater commonality with the 767.
Cathode-ray tube (CRT) color displays replaced conventional
electromechanical instruments, At in length, The fuselage cross-section, whose upper lobe was common to the
707 and 737, was the only major structural feature to be retained from the 727. This was mainly to reduce drag, home of 707, 727, and 737 production, to produce the 757. Early in the development program, Boeing,
British Airways, and Rolls-Royce unsuccessfully lobbied the British aircraft industry to manufacture 757 wings. Ultimately, about half of the aircraft's components, including the wings, nose section, and
empennage, were produced in-house at Boeing facilities with the remainder subcontracted to primarily U.S.-based companies.
Fairchild Aircraft made the
leading edge slats,
Grumman supplied the
flaps, and
Rockwell International produced the main fuselage. The aircraft, equipped with engines, completed its maiden flight one week ahead of schedule on February 19, 1982. The first flight was affected by an
engine stall, following indications of low
oil pressure. Subsequently, the 757 embarked on a seven-day weekly flight test schedule. By this time, the aircraft had received 136 orders from seven carriers, namely
Air Florida,
American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines,
Eastern Air Lines,
Monarch Airlines, and
Transbrasil. Tasks included flight systems and propulsion tests, hot and cold weather trials, and route-proving flights. Data from the 767 program helped expedite the process. Charter carriers Monarch Airlines and
Air Europe also began 757 operations later that year. Early operators noted improved reliability and quieter performance compared with previous jetliners. In December 1985, a freighter model, the , was announced following a launch order for 20 aircraft from
UPS Airlines, The freighter model included a main deck cargo hold and entered service with UPS in September 1987. By this time, the 757 had become commonplace on short-haul domestic flights and
transcontinental services in the U.S., The maximum range of , The 757 was also flown out of airports with stringent noise regulations, such as
John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, and airports with aircraft size restrictions, such as
Washington National Airport near downtown Washington, D.C. while other carriers such as
Lufthansa rejected the type as too large for their narrow-body aircraft needs. A 1982 sales demonstration was unable to attract a purchase from potential customer
Japan Airlines, and the first Asian customer,
Singapore Airlines, sold its four 757s in 1989 in favor of standardizing on the 240-seat wide-body
Airbus A310, just five years after debuting the type on Indonesian and Malaysian routes. The 757 fared better in China, where following an initial purchase by the
CAAC Airlines in 1987, In 1986, the FAA approved RB211-powered 757s for extended-range twin-engine operational performance standards (
ETOPS) operations over the North Atlantic, following precedents set by the 767. Under ETOPS regulations, a set of safety standards governing twinjet flights over oceans and other areas without nearby suitable landing sites, airlines began using the aircraft for mid-range intercontinental routes. This followed several incidents, including two fatal crashes, in which small private aircraft experienced
loss of control when flying close behind the twinjet. Other tests were inconclusive, leading to debate among government agencies, and in 1994 and 1996 the FAA updated air traffic control regulations to require greater
separation behind the 757 than other large-category jets. The 757 became the only sub- airliner to be classified as a "
heavy" jet, alongside wide-body aircraft, under FAA separation rules. Planning for the 757-100 was discontinued in March 1979.
Stretched variant: -300 Production of the 757 peaked at an annual rate of 100 aircraft in the early 1990s, during which time upgraded models came under consideration. and counter longer-range versions of the 185-seat
Airbus A321, a new stretched variant of the
A320 narrow-body airliner. in 2005; they started operating the type in March 1999|alt=Side view of aircraft in flight with extended gear. In September 1996, following a launch order for 12 aircraft from charter carrier
Condor, Boeing announced the stretched at the
Farnborough Airshow. The first rolled out on May 31, 1998, and completed its maiden flight on August 2, 1998. Boeing had targeted the as a potential replacement for two of its largest customers, American Airlines and United Airlines, but neither were in a financial position to commit to new aircraft. Overtures to other charter airlines also did not result in further orders.
Further developments While the 757 program had been financially successful, declining sales in the early 2000s threatened its continued viability. Airlines were again gravitating toward smaller aircraft, now mainly the 737 and A320, because of their reduced financial risk. An airline industry downturn and the large number of relatively young 757s already in service also reduced customer demand. However, the proposal failed to garner any orders. In October 2003, following Continental Airlines' decision to switch its remaining orders to the , Boeing announced the end of 757 production. and was delivered on November 28, 2005, after several months of storage. With the conclusion of the 757 program, Boeing consolidated 737 assembly at its Renton factory, downsizing its facilities by 40 percent and shifting staff to different locations. Since the end of production, many Boeing 757s have remained in service, mainly in the U.S. From 2004 to 2008, the average fuel cost for typical mid-range U.S. domestic 757 flights tripled, putting pressure on airlines to improve the fuel efficiency of their fleets. In May 2005, the FAA granted regulatory approval for manufacturer-sanctioned
blended winglets from
Aviation Partners as a retrofit on the . The winglets improve fuel efficiency by five percent and increase range by through the reduction of lift-induced drag. Continental Airlines was the first carrier to order winglets for the , and in February 2009 became the first operator of with winglets. Aviation Partners further developed the blended winglet into the Scimitar Blended Winglet, which improves fuel burn by 1.1% over the original blended winglet. Icelandair and United Airlines have retrofitted their 757-200s with Scimitar Blended Winglets. 757-300 taking off from
Los Angeles in 2015 with blended
winglets, which reduce
lift-induced drag and improve
fuel efficiency.|alt=Side view of twin-jet aircraft ascending. Prior to the United-Continental merger in 2010, the 757 remained the only narrow-body aircraft in use by the large fleets of all three U.S.
legacy carriers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. when selecting replacement aircraft, airlines have had to either downsize to smaller single-aisle aircraft in production with fewer seats and less range such as the
737-900ER and A321, or upsize to the larger, longer-range
787 and wide-body jets. The
Tupolev Tu-204, a narrow-body twinjet introduced in 1989 with a design similar to the 757's, is offered in a 200-seat version and has seen limited production for mainly Russian customers. Within Boeing, the 215-seat, range 737-900ER had been regarded as the closest aircraft in production to the 757-200 after the latter ceased production. The
Airbus A321neo LR and XLR variants finally provided a suitable 757-200 replacement on market in terms of range and capacity, and Icelandair and United Airlines have ordered the A321XLR to replace the Boeing 757 on their longer-range routes.
Replacement aircraft In February 2015, Boeing marketing Vice President Randy Tinseth stated that re-engining the 757 had been studied but there was no business case to support it. At the March 2015
ISTAT conference,
Air Lease Corporation's
Steven Udvar-Hazy predicted the 757 replacement would be a more capable, clean-sheet 767-like twin-aisle airplane capable of taking off from runways like
New York-LaGuardia, and Tinseth was focused on 20% more range and more capacity than the 757-200. ==Design==