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To: engineer who wrote (115878)	3/22/2002 10:19:21 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 152472

Off topic (for aircraft enthusiasts) - Boeing Launches New 747 with Order for 8 Mar 22, 2002 8:05am ET Boeing Launches New 747 with Order for 8 LONDON (Reuters) - Boeing Co will launch its proposed 747-400QLR development, the latest attempt to revive interest in the Jumbo Jet, with a relatively small order for about eight planes, a company executive said on Friday. A launch order looked close, as talks with airlines passed the stage of technical descriptions of the aircraft, a quieter and longer-range development of the familiar 747-400 wide-body, general manager for the 747, Jeff Peace, told reporters. Now the carriers wanted to talk about price. "We will go ahead when we can prove a business case and we think that is about eight airplanes," he said. "The number of customers is not really important," he said, adding that the catalog price was $180 million to $200 million and only slightly more than current 747s'. A launch order for eight is very small by the standards of Boeing and its European rival, Airbus SAS, although the number of sales needed to justify a new model depends on the development cost. Peace would not comment on that cost. Analysts said the 747-400QLR is important to Boeing because the company has repeatedly failed to launch improved versions of the 747, which has been in production since the late 1960s. Sales have been very slow for its latest version of the aircraft, the 1980s-technology variant 747-400. One incremental improvement to the aircraft, the 747-400ER, will be delivered to Qantas Airways Ltd of Australia this year, but that development offers only a bit more range from basically the same design that Boeing has been building since the 1980s. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS Boeing announced at the Singapore air show last month that it was offering the 747-400QLR as a further development, with yet more range and various refinements that would significantly reduce noise on take-off and landing. Peace said Boeing was also contemplating further incremental 747 improvements from 2004, starting with changes to improve operating efficiency and reliability. Later in the decade it might build a new version in two sub-variants: a freighter with a longer fuselage and a passenger plane with more range. "I don't think we would move it up into the 500-passenger area," he said, almost ruling out a 747 development that would challenge the 555-seat A380 from Airbus. The immediate offering, the 747-400QLR, was an alternative to Airbus's A340-500, a much smaller but extremely long-range aircraft that the European firm already has in production, the executive said. Carrying fewer passengers than its standard load of 416 -- say, 250 in mostly premium-class seats -- the 747-400QLR could connect Southeast Asia with the United States non-stop. Singapore Airlines Ltd , a big 747-400 operator, has already bought the A340-500 for that mission. European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co NV owns 80 percent of Airbus. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited.