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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 9, 1994                   TAG: 9404090012
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: EVERETT, WASH.                                 LENGTH: Medium

WITH A HANDLE LIKE '777', THIS JET INVITES A GAMBLE

But Boeing Co. engineers have placed a multibillion dollar bet that the aerospace leader's newest wide-body jet, the 777, will succeed.

The first 777 will be unveiled Saturday at an invitation-only shindig at a Boeing factory complex, offering customers, suppliers and many workers their first intimate view of the plane that will take Boeing into the 21st century.

The 777 comes at a time when commercial airlines have been reeling from years of punishing losses. Boeing has slashed production and cut thousands of jobs.

Nonetheless, Boeing's long-term strategists estimate the world's airlines will need 12,000 new planes worth $815 billion by 2010, with jets like the 777 accounting for nearly 40 percent of sales.

Boeing says the 777, which is only slightly smaller than Boeing's jumbo 747-400, has fundamentally changed the way it does business.

Customers such as British Airways and United Airlines say they're so pleased with the openness Boeing has shown they now demand similar treatment from competitors.

"It's been a revolution from one end to the other," said Paul Nisbet, an aerospace industry analyst with JSA Research in Newport, R.I.

Sixteen customers have ordered 147 777s and signed options to buy another 108. Each costs $116 million to $146 million, depending on interior configuration.

Boeing won't say how much the plane cost to design and build, but outside experts estimate at least $4 billion.

One of the biggest risks is whether government regulators will permit the twin-engine plane to fly long, over-ocean routes. It must prove reliability for at least two years before such permission can be granted.

But the twin-engine power also is one of the plane's most alluring qualities for buyers. It is expected to be far more efficient than four-engine models and less costly to maintain.

The plane is the first Boeing designed entirely on computer. Except for a few critical areas, such as the cockpit and passenger doors, there was no mock-up - the dummy model that serves as a prototype.

Profits are still in question, however. Nisbet said Boeing might have to deliver 300 planes before it breaks even.

The first 777s, scheduled to enter service with United Airlines in May 1995, will carry 375 passengers 4,240 miles. A longer-range, "B" market version, available in December 1996, will carry 305 passengers up to 8,490 miles - 50 miles farther than the 747-400.

The engines, made by Pratt & Whitney, General Electric and Rolls-Royce, are the largest ever built - the GE cowling is wider than a 757 jetliner cabin.

The 777 also is Boeing's first "fly-by-wire" aircraft, meaning that electronic circuits, not mechanical links, carry commands to the rudder and ailerons.