The Boeing Company is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support services. Boeing is among the largest global aerospace manufacturers; it is the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world based on 2022 revenue and is the largest exporter in the United States by dollar value. Boeing was founded by William Boeing in Seattle, Washington, on July 15, 1916. The present corporation is the result of the merger of Boeing with McDonnell Douglas on August 1, 1997.
Boeing's global headquarters in Crystal City, Virginia
Assembly of a 737 in the Boeing Renton Factory
Final assembly of a Boeing 737 airplane, 1975
Boeing Everett Factory, the assembly facility for most of the company's wide-body aircraft
An airplane or aeroplane, informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.
The first flight of an airplane, the Wright Flyer on 17 December 1903
North American P-51 Mustang, a World War II fighter aircraft
An All Nippon Airways Boeing 777-300ER taking off from New York JFK Airport
Le Bris and his glider, Albatros II, photographed by Nadar, 1868