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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990                   TAG: 9004140192
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RENTON, WASH.                                LENGTH: Short

BOEING, JAPANESE TO BUILD JETLINER

Boeing Co. said Friday it would begin producing a new commercial jet under an agreement with three Japanese companies that will produce parts and provide up to 20 percent of the capital for the venture.

The so-called 767-X - to be called the 777 once in production - is intended to fill the size gap between Boeing's 767, another jetliner that uses some Japanese-produced components, and its 747 jumbo jet, company officials said.

The companies - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries - would get a share of any profits but would have no equity in the project and get no proprietary information.

The first model of the jetliner is scheduled to be delivered around 1995.

The initial model would have a 197-foot wingspan, be 206 feet long and carry 353 passengers in two classes, with a range of 4,600 nautical miles, said Alan R. Mulally, vice president for engineering of Boeing's New Airplane Division.

Mulally said the plane is designed to replace the 687 McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and Lockheed L-1011s that will be approaching 25 years of age in the mid-1990s.

The wings of the new jet would be able to fold upward about 23 to 25 feet from the tips, to enable the new plane to use existing gates for the older models, which have shorter wingspans.

- Associated Press

by CNB