The Boeing 707 Launches the American Jet Age
Pan Am bets on Boeing over the Comet's maker, and the jet airliner becomes an American product
Quick facts
- First flight
- December 20, 1957
- First commercial service
- October 26, 1958, Pan Am, New York-Paris
- Pan Am launch order
- 20 aircraft, ordered 1955
- Historical role
- Credited with beginning the Jet Age
What happened
Boeing's 707, developed from its 367-80 prototype, first flew on December 20, 1957, and entered scheduled commercial service with Pan American World Airways on October 26, 1958, flying from New York's Idlewild Airport to Paris with a refueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland. Pan Am had considered buying the pioneering de Havilland Comet but instead became the 707's launch customer in 1955, ordering 20 aircraft, a decision made easier once the Comet's 1954 crashes had grounded the British jet and stalled its production. The 707 was not the first jetliner in the air, but it became the first to achieve wide production and route coverage, and is generally credited with starting the Jet Age in earnest.
Why it matters
The 707's success shifted the center of gravity of commercial jet manufacturing from Britain to the United States for the following half-century, establishing Boeing as the dominant Western airliner maker and Pan Am as the airline that popularized transatlantic jet travel for a mass, though still relatively affluent, flying public.
How we know
The 707's first flight date, Pan Am's 1955 launch order, and the October 1958 start of scheduled service are documented in period aviation industry and airline history, corroborated by the Smithsonian's own account of jet airliner competition between de Havilland and Boeing in the 1950s.
Sources
- Pan Am Museum Foundation. Welcome to the Jet Age · General sourcethepanammuseum.org · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- The Museum of Flight. The Boeing Story: 1916-1958 · General sourcemuseumofflight.org · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match).
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