
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991                   TAG: 9103060117
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BUENA VISTA                                LENGTH: Short

BLUE BIRD TO SHIP 70 BUSES TO EGYPT

The first 70 buses produced by Blue Bird East under a three-year U.S. government contract soon will be shipped to Egypt. Painted desert tan, they were bought by the Egyptian Air Force.

Blue Bird East was hired to make 302 buses over a three-year period for the U.S. General Services Administration. The contract means $25 million to $30 million in business for the Buena Vista plant.

The work will not bring any additional hiring other than the usual temporary summer help by students, said Frank C. Weddle, vice president and general manager.

The Buena Vista plant produces more than 3,000 vehicles a year, 95 percent of them school buses. It sells them mainly to school systems in the Northeast.

The government contract means Blue Bird minibuses will be purchased by such government agencies as the Kennedy Space Center, the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. - Staff report

by CNB