The Boeing 777-300 took off for the first time at 10:27 a.m. Pacific time on 16 October 1997, from Paine Field in Everett, Washington. According to Boeing's release, it flew for 4 hours 6 minutes, reached a maximum of 17,000 feet, and landed at Boeing Field in Seattle. It was the first of more than 1,400 planned flight-test hours.

From launch to first flight

Boeing launched the programme on 26 June 1995, about 28 months before the flight, and rolled the first aircraft out on 8 September 1997. By the day it flew, eight customers had ordered 52 of them. The aircraft was powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 892 engines, and Boeing planned a seven-month test programme ending with certification the following May.

The first delivery

Cathay Pacific took the first one. Boeing and Cathay celebrated the delivery on 21 May 1998, and Cathay's own history of the aircraft says the first 777-300, registered B-HNH, was handed over at Boeing Field that day. Its first commercial flight, according to Cathay, was to Osaka on 1 June.

Cathay also says the 777-300 was about ten metres longer than the 777-200, which made it the longest aircraft in the world at the time, three metres longer than the 747-400. That is the airline's description, and I have not checked it against a second source, so treat it as Cathay's claim.

The stretch that lived on

The 777-300ER first flew on 24 February 2003, according to Wikipedia's article on the 777, and Air France received the first one on 29 April 2004. It kept the -300's length and added the longer range of the -200ER, along with raked wingtips and GE90 engines.

So the aircraft on my screen are not the original. The three I caught are -300ERs, which grew out of the one that flew in 1997.

On my screen

The BBBRadar desk unit shows type, registration, callsign and altitude. On 27 September 2026 it showed three -300ERs:

  • British Airways G-STBN, as BAW180, at 12,000 feet.
  • Air Canada C-FIUV, as ACA854, at 13,000 feet.
  • Air France F-GZNQ, as AFR293, at 37,000 feet.

The screen prints the type as 777-300ER. None of those three catches showed a route, so I am not claiming one.

The photographs with this article are of original 777-300s, not of those three aircraft. One is Cathay Pacific's B-HNH at Singapore in 2007, the first one delivered. The other is a Korean Air 777-300, HL7532, at Taoyuan in February 2026. The credits are listed below.

What I have not confirmed

I have not confirmed Cathay's "longest in the world" wording against another source. One other source gives the handover as 22 May rather than 21 May, so the date may depend on whether you count the ceremony or the handover; I have used Boeing's and Cathay's 21 May. I also do not know how many original 777-300s are still flying.

Sources