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The spotlight is on the first Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner
as it is presented to employees and press Tuesday, Feb. 15,
2005 at the Boeing Co. assembly facility in Everett, Wash.
(AP) | |
Boeing Co. unveiled a long-range version of its 777 commercial airliner
on Tuesday, which the company said can fly from London to Sydney, making
it the world's longest-range commercial aircraft.
With the launch of the new 777-200LR "Worldliner," Boeing is hoping to
attract airlines that will ferry passengers directly between multiple
points.
The new, 301-passenger, long-range 777 is expected to make its first
flight in March and will be
delivered first to Pakistan
International airlines, its launch customer for the new version of the
777, in January of 2006.
The twin-engine airplane, when equipped with three optional fuel tanks,
will be capable of flying 9,420 nautical miles, enough to "connect any two
cities in the world today," said Lars Andersen, Boeing's vice president in
charge of the 777 program at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
"This is the longest-range airplane in the world," Andersen told a
crowd of customers, suppliers, employees and reporters at Boeing's Everett
plant north of Seattle, where the jumbo 747 and 767 planes are also built.
Even with a full-passenger payload in a typical three-class
configuration, the 777-200LR will be able to connect cities as far-flung
as Los Angeles and Johannesburg, London and Sydney, as well as New York
and Jakarta, Boeing said.
The 777-200LR will compete directly with Airbus's A340-600 and
A340-500, but have seat-mile costs 15 percent to 18 percent lower than
those models, Boeing said.
The planes are powered by two General Electric GE90-115B engines, which
the company said is the world's most powerful commercial jet engine, with
115,000 pounds of thrust.
Boeing is betting that airlines will be buying more mid-size jetliners
in the same class as the 777 and its newest model, the 787, to ferry
passengers between multiple cities, rather than gathering them at big
airport hubs and carrying them on larger planes.
Boeing's main rival Airbus, which overtook the Chicago-based aerospace
company last year as the world's largest commercial jet manufacturer, is
betting that people will continue to travel through its major airport
hubs, with its superjumbo A380 aircraft that can carry as many as 840
people.
(Agencies) |
本周二（2月15日），美國波音公司推出了一款777遠程商用客機。波音公司表示，這款飛機能夠從倫敦直接飛抵悉尼，是迄今為止世界上飛得最遠的商用飛機。
波音公司希望通過推出這款新型777-200LR“環(huán)球飛機”吸引更多提供多地間直飛服務(wù)的航空公司。
新型的波音777 LR遠程商用飛機能載客301人，預計將于今年3月進行首飛，并于2006年1月首先向其客戶巴基斯坦國際航空公司交貨。
這款雙引擎飛機備有三個可供選擇的油箱，能夠飛行9420海里（1.7446萬公里）。據(jù)波音公司副總裁、波音商用飛機777項目負責人拉斯·安德森稱，它足以“連接當今世界上任何兩座城市”。
在西雅圖北部埃弗雷特的波音飛機制造廠（波音747和767飛機也在此生產(chǎn)），安德森告訴聚集在此的客戶、供應(yīng)商、波音員工和新聞記者們：“這是地球上飛得最遠的飛機?！?
波音公司表示，即便滿員，典型三級客艙布局的777－200LR也能將世界上兩個相距非常遙遠的城市連接起來，比如洛杉磯和約翰內(nèi)斯堡、倫敦和悉尼、紐約和雅加達。
波音777-200LR將與“空客”A340-600和A340-500展開激烈的競爭，但波音公司表示，該機型的每一座位英里成本比“空客”的兩款機型低15%到18%。
這款飛機配備了兩套美國通用電器公司生產(chǎn)的GE90-115B引擎。通用電氣公司表示，這是迄今世界上最強大的商用噴氣機引擎，具有11.5萬磅的推進力。
波音公司相信各航空公司會購買更多像波音777和最新款787同類型的中型噴氣式客機，以便在多個城市之間運送乘客，而不是把乘客集中在一個大的空港，用更大型的飛機運載。
總部設(shè)在芝加哥的波音航空公司的主要競爭對手是空中客車公司。去年“空客”超過了波音，成為世界上最大的商用噴氣機制造商。“空客”確信人們將繼續(xù)通過大型空港中轉(zhuǎn)旅行，而它的超大型客機A380的載客量達到了840人。
（中國日報網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2005-02-18 10:11