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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)
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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.
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本周二（2月15日），美国波音公司推出了一款777远程商用客机。波音公司表示，这款飞机能够从伦敦直接飞抵悉尼，是迄今为止世界上飞得最远的商用飞机。
波音公司希望通过推出这款新型777-200LR“环球飞机”吸引更多提供多地间直飞服务的航空公司。
新型的波音777 LR远程商用飞机能载客301人，预计将于今年3月进行首飞，并于2006年1月首先向其客户巴基斯坦国际航空公司交货。
这款双引擎飞机备有三个可供选择的油箱，能够飞行9420海里（1.7446万公里）。据波音公司副总裁、波音商用飞机777项目负责人拉斯·安德森称，它足以“连接当今世界上任何两座城市”。
在西雅图北部埃弗雷特的波音飞机制造厂（波音747和767飞机也在此生产），安德森告诉聚集在此的客户、供应商、波音员工和新闻记者们：“这是地球上飞得最远的飞机。”
波音公司表示，即便满员，典型三级客舱布局的777－200LR也能将世界上两个相距非常遥远的城市连接起来，比如洛杉矶和约翰内斯堡、伦敦和悉尼、纽约和雅加达。
波音777-200LR将与“空客”A340-600和A340-500展开激烈的竞争，但波音公司表示，该机型的每一座位英里成本比“空客”的两款机型低15%到18%。
这款飞机配备了两套美国通用电器公司生产的GE90-115B引擎。通用电气公司表示，这是迄今世界上最强大的商用喷气机引擎，具有11.5万磅的推进力。
波音公司相信各航空公司会购买更多像波音777和最新款787同类型的中型喷气式客机，以便在多个城市之间运送乘客，而不是把乘客集中在一个大的空港，用更大型的飞机运载。
总部设在芝加哥的波音航空公司的主要竞争对手是空中客车公司。去年“空客”超过了波音，成为世界上最大的商用喷气机制造商。“空客”确信人们将继续通过大型空港中转旅行，而它的超大型客机A380的载客量达到了840人。
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