Taiwan carrier orders 8 777 jets

  • Bryan Corliss / Business Columnist
  • Tuesday, April 13, 2004 9:00pm
  • Business

The Boeing Co. is going to pick up a big jet order in the next 24 hours.

Reports out of Taiwan say EVA Airways will announce plans to add eight extended-range 777-300ERs to its fleet at a press conference scheduled for tonight, our time.

The deal is worth about $1.5 billion, Bloomberg News and Agence France-Presse reported. If that’s true, EVA is getting a discount of 10 percent to 20 percent off Boeing’s current list prices for the 777-300ER.

However, this order is one that’s been hanging around for a while.

EVA placed an order for four 777-300ERs and three 777-200LRs in summer 2000 at the Farnborough Air Show in England. At the time, that order was significant mostly for the fact that it made EVA the launch customer for the 777-200LR, which will be the world’s farthest-flying jetliner when it enters service in 2006.

As part of the deal, the airline took options on eight 300ERs, which the airline is exercising now.

The order is good news for Boeing, which has taken orders for only 15 of the Everett-built 777s since January 2003.

And it points to more good news ahead, because EVA is expanding. The airline last month added an MD-11 freighter to add capacity to its U.S.-Asia cargo routes, and now is adding passenger capacity for long-range flights to Europe and North America.

Other Asian carriers also are reporting growth and considering adding routes.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific had the best month in its history for cargo traffic in March, Agence France-Presse reported Tuesday. Cathay also reported a 13 percent increase in passenger traffic.

The International Air Transport Association expects the region’s airlines to show profits of up to $4 billion this year as the worldwide economy improves and Asian economies recover from last year’s SARS outbreak.

Boeing has been counting on those Asian carriers to pull it out of its long post-Sept. 11 slump. Maybe they’re finally ready to do that.

In other 777 news: Boeing will deliver the first 777-300ER to launch customer International Lease Finance Corp. later this month. The plane will be leased to Air France.

The 777-300ER is a 365-passenger jet that sports the most powerful engines ever mounted on a commercial plane. They will push the plane for 8,250 miles — about 20 percent farther than the original 777-300.

Boeing also will start final assembly later this year on the first 777-200LR. That plane, which will carry about 300 passengers as far as 10,100 miles, is set to enter service with Pakistan International Airlines in January 2006.

Work continues on first 767 tanker: There’s plenty of news coming out of Wichita lately, what with the potential sale of the Boeing commercial jet facilities there and contract talks involving the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

However, work continues on Plane 912, the first KC-767 tanker that Boeing is building for the Italian air force. The Herald followed that plane last spring as it made its way down the assembly line, out to the flight line and then up for its first flight.

According to The Wichita Eagle, workers in Kansas have removed the tail, flight deck and large sections of the fuselage as they work to convert the plane from its standard passenger configuration.

They’ve added a new cargo door, cargo floor and exit doors, and beefed up the structure to handle additional weight.

By summer, about 170 people will be working on the plane, which is scheduled to make its first flight after modification in January 2005 and be delivered to the Italians in spring 2006.

Boeing has streamlined the work process in ways that would be familiar to Everett assembly line workers, such as parts bins located alongside the plane. They’ve also put computers on board so mechanics can look up drawings rather than have to leave the plane to hunt for them, the newspaper reported.

If the tanker deal with the U.S. Air Force is ever concluded, Boeing plans to modify four tankers at a time.

Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.

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