Boeing 777 Visits Europe on Demonstration Tour

SEATTLE, Sept. 4, 1995 -- The first Boeing 777, designated WA001, will depart Seattle on Sept. 6 for an eight-day tour of Europe.

During the tour, the airplane will travel 21,722 kilometers (13,500 statute miles/11,729 nautical miles) and visit six different cities: Geneva, Switzerland; Warsaw, Poland; Vienna, Austria; Gatwick Airport outside London, England; and Frankfurt, Germany before returning to Seattle on Sept. 13.

The European tour provides an opportunity to preview the newest Boeing jetliner to airline customers, government officials, aviation industry experts and the news media. It will provide an opportunity to satisfy European interest in the new airplane, which can fly faster and farther with lower operating cost than any of its competitors, while providing an all-new standard of passenger comfort.

"You can't believe the magnificence of this airplane until you see and touch it," said Tom Basacchi, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group vice president, international sales for Europe and Russia. "Much of the credit for the 777 goes to our customers, who have been involved from the very beginning in developing the airplane's size, range and configuration."

Despite a downturn in the airline industry, the 777 has captured more than 70 percent of all orders in its market category since its launch in October 1990. Sixteen customers on four continents have placed orders for 167 of the new 777s.

"The 777," Basacchi explained, "not only has the range, seating capacity and technologies the airlines want, but it offers them operating costs that are about 9 percent below the competition. It also has an interior that can be reconfigured in hours rather than weeks and provides passengers a spacious, open cabin, with more head room, the widest interior in its class, the widest economy seat to go into service and the most advanced in- flight entertainment and business capabilities available."

During the course of the tour, the airplane will establish speed records on its departure, Seattle to Geneva and return, Frankfurt to Seattle. It returns to Seattle on Sept. 13.