Before we go into the project Canvas, I wanted to pick another project, which I think is extraordinary. And then I've had the pleasure of talking with the project leader, the program leader, which is somebody quite remarkable. Alan Mulally. And I wanted to share this project because it's work probably one of the most complex projects I've come across is the Boeing 777. So the purpose of the Boeing seven seven was to capture an opportunity in the market. So it was very clear the purpose in the mind of a land and the rest of the management team in boring, there was a need for a different kind of commercial aircraft in the market, so people knew that we had to develop something new on point the customers wanted and why they're so large with full flexibility and interiors for the sitting.
So clear need a clear operator opportunity, there was also a demand to create an aircraft, which would be more cost effective to go to be a bit more resilient when the oil prices were going up. So a clear need. And that's always the starting point. The why. And this is a great example. The project started in 1994.
So only five years to build the Boeing seven seven completely new from almost from scratch. The budget was about 5 billion US dollar. More than 10,000 people were working on the project and it was not just in the US but across the world. They did outsource quite some part in Asia, in Europe. So it was a very global project. This city seating capacity of the new plane was 340 200 300 almost 400 people.
So I really an excellent project, which today has sold about, what about 2000 units, which is more than what they were expecting. One thing that allama Lally did very well in this project was he engaged the customers so he engaged American Airlines, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific. You see the names on the screen in the project. They were part of the project, the customers in the project was something unique, which is something that I really appreciate from a nice approach to project managers. You know, Alan Mulally, he later became CEO of Boeing and he did such a great job that he was hired to turn around for motors.