In the midst of everything else that’s going on, I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to show you some photos from a great event a few weeks ago with a great Boeing customer.

Alaska Airlines has completed a transition to an all-Boeing 737 fleet. At Sea-Tac Airport they celebrated the final flight of their last MD-80, and ushered in a new era with a just-delivered Next-Generation 737-800 in a special Boeing/Alaska Airlines livery.

Side by side with the MD-80, the newly delivered and specially painted Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 airplane, dubbed the “Spirit of Seattle” in tribute to the airline’s now all-737 fleet and their unique hometown partnership with Boeing.

Alaska says their 737-800s use 800 gallons of fuel per hour, versus 1,100 gallons per hour used by the MD-80. They estimate a 20-30% savings in fuel burn. And another key point: the common fleet type will also mean lower costs for operations and maintenance, training and flight crew scheduling. It also pays dividends in terms of fleet reliability and passenger experience.

But Alaska is not alone in their admiration for the 737-800. In fact in the just released annual Airfinance Journal Aircraft Investors’ and Operators’ Poll, the 737-800 was voted best airplane, period.

The 737-800 was voted number one in overall aircraft type, number one in investor appeal, number one in residual value, and number one in re-marketing potential. Not bad for an airplane that’s been in operation for only ten years now.

That’s right. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the Next-Generation 737 is the newest airplane in the 100-200 seat segment. It entered service in 1998 – 10 years after the A320.

As the Airfinance Poll results indicate, investors and operators are continuing to realize cost savings by investing in fuel-efficient, Next-Generation 737 airplanes. And as Alaska Airlines might tell you, those savings can really pay off.

The 787 program reached a milestone last Saturday, successfully completing the high-blow test on the 787 static test vehicle in our Everett factory.

This test is one of three static tests on a full airframe that must be cleared prior to first flight. During the test, the airframe reached an internal pressure of 14.9 pounds per square inch (1.05 kilograms per centimeter) gauge (psig) – which is 150% of the maximum levels expected of the airplane in service.

The 787 static test airframe, at the factory in Everett, has undergone the first in a series of tests to demonstrate the airframe’s durability.

It took nearly two hours to complete the test, as pressure was slowly increased to ensure the integrity of the airplane.

The 787 team was confident going into this test because of the extensive work it’s done on larger and larger pieces of composite – from small coupons to fuselage sections. Still, it’s very rewarding to see a whole airplane being tested and having the results we expected.

With one test down, we have two more static tests before first flight – limit load testing on the leading and trailing edges of the wings.

As I head off on my annual trip to Australia and New Zealand (with stops in Japan and Korea, too), I wanted to steer you toward some great new industry info that’s just available.

Many of you know that we release our new Current Market Outlook (CMO) each year around the Farnborough or Paris air shows. Then a couple of months later we release a “book” version of the report, with a lot of fascinating data behind our outlook.

Useful data indeed. The 2008 Current Market Outlook book is 60 pages of info and insight. A complete reference guide to the future of air transport. Click the image above to go to the pdf.

That book is available now on the Current Market Outlook page. You can download the entire report here. (4MB pdf). The CMO also happens to be the cover story of the current issue of Boeing Frontiers.

While we’re on the subject of new content, the enviro.aero site has just been refreshed with new content and a new blog, called Plane Talking. The new look amounts to a more attractive and informative resource for the flying public on aviation’s environmental progress, with a focus on climate change.

Click on the image to go to enviro.aero.

In addition to the new blog, there’s an animated illustration of how the industry is making environmental improvements at all steps of a passenger’s flight.

Enviro.aero is supported by Boeing and Airbus, the major engine manufacturers and others, under the umbrella of the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG). I think you’ll find a lot of great information about our industry’s commitment to finding solutions to environmental issues.

A little over a year ago I asked a simple question: How quiet do you want it to be on the airplane the next time you fly?

Spending some “quiet” time visiting the A380 flight deck at Farnborough in July.

That Sound of silence blog generated one of the highest comment counts we’d had here up to that date, and also created quite a buzz out in the aviation world. As one person put it, I was “roasted” on Airliners.net.

A lot of you had strong opinions about my suggestion that there might be such a thing as an airplane that was too quiet. Truth is that blog was based both on our own research and on anecdotal media reports from early flights on the A380.

Well, now that the A380 has been in regular service for a while, it seems other folks are having the same reaction. Someone on FlyerTalk last month related their experience with hearing people snoring. And a couple of weeks ago a colleague sent me copy of a recent “Double je” column from the French publication Challenges. It was an intriguing item titled, “The Airbus A380 has a major defect .. it is too quiet!”

The column reports on an informal in-flight conversation with a senior Airbus executive in which the executive breezily chats with his seat mate about a variety of issues facing the company. Among them, that during its first year in service the A380 has encountered an unexpected problem. Evidently, there is feedback that the airplane is too quiet, particularly in first class. Apparently some first class passengers have complained they can’t hold private conversations anymore.

It’s an interesting perspective, considering that just last year an Airbus executive declared that there’s no such thing as an aircraft that is too quiet, and called my blog “embarrassing.”

Anyway, the Challenges piece goes on to conclude that the issue is being taken so seriously that there might need to be some background music (white noise?) played in the airplane, like the canned music played in supermarkets.

May I suggest perhaps some Simon and Garfunkel?

What comes to mind right now is what my predecessor wrote in this blog three years ago. At times like this, we greatly disappoint our customers.

Boeing’s Everett factory - one of the facilities affected by the work stoppage.

While the circumstances, issues, and the competitive situation are somewhat different in 2008 vs. what it was in 2005, something else that Randy said back then also still rings true: In a strike, nobody wins. Except maybe the competition.