Boeing 737-900 / 737-900ER

ICAO type code: B739 · Boeing · narrowbody airliner

737-900ER at a glance

First flight

2000 (737-900); 2006 (737-900ER)

Length

138 ft 2 in (42.1 m)

Wingspan

117 ft 5 in (35.8 m) with winglets

Engines

2 × CFM56-7B turbofans

Seats

177–220

Cruise speed

~453 kt (521 mph) / Mach 0.785

Service ceiling

41,000 ft

Range

~2,950 nmi (900ER)

How to recognize the 737-900ER

The 737-900ER is the stretched limousine of the classic 737 line. It has the same wing, tail and engines as the -800, so its fuselage looks long and pencil-thin for the wing size, and on rotation the tail sits very close to the runway.

• Length: about 9 ft longer than a 737-800. Seen from below, more fuselage extends ahead of the wing, and the plane looks long and slender compared with an A320.
• Doors: the 900ER adds a pair of mid-cabin exit doors just behind the wing, on top of the two overwing exits. Some airlines deactivate these and they show only as a faint door outline.
• Engines: CFM56-7B with the flattened 737 intake, no chevrons on the exhaust, and very little ground clearance.
• Wingtips: blended winglets or split scimitar winglets (common on United and Alaska jets).
• Tail skid: a small retractable tail skid protects the long rear fuselage from scraping on takeoff and landing.
• Belly: visible main wheels without doors, like every 737.

Against the 737 MAX 9, which is almost identical in length, check the engines: the MAX has bigger round-faced nacelles with sawtooth trailing edges and an AT split-tip winglet.

Where and when you'll see it

Delta (callsign DAL) operates a large 737-900ER fleet out of Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City. United (UAL) flies both the original -900 and the 900ER from hubs like Houston, Chicago, Denver and Newark, and Alaska (ASA) uses them heavily on the West Coast, including flights to Hawaii.

Expect cruise between FL330 and FL390 and approach speeds a little higher than a 737-800 because of its higher weights. On ADS-B both the -900 and -900ER appear as type B739 with a mainline airline callsign. Because it is the largest narrowbody many of these airlines fly domestically, the 900ER is often scheduled on the busiest hub-to-hub routes and peak-time departures, so look for it during morning and evening banks at the big Atlanta and Minneapolis hubs.

Easily confused with

• Boeing 737-800: The 737-800 is about 9 ft shorter and lacks the extra exit door behind the wing.
• Boeing 737 MAX 9: The MAX 9 is the same length but has larger engines with chevrons and an upper-and-lower split winglet.
• Airbus A321: The A321 sits higher on longer gear, has round engine intakes and four full-size doors per side.

Quick facts

• The original 737-900 could carry no more passengers than a 737-800 because it had the same exits; the 900ER's added doors raised the limit to 220.
• The 737-900ER was launched by Indonesia's Lion Air, but Delta and United later became among its biggest operators.
• Its long rear fuselage needs a tail skid to protect against tail strikes during steep rotations.

737-900ER questions

Cities where it's a regular

Houston · Atlanta · Detroit · Seattle · Minneapolis · San Diego · Salt Lake City · Anchorage

Spot one live

Open the live sky tool and look for B739 in the type column, or browse the live map on airplanes.live.