Boeing, All Nippon Airways Sign Pact : U.S. Firm Beats Competition, Will Sell 25 Jetliners for $1.76-Billion

Japan’s All Nippon Airways today unveiled a $1.76-billion deal to buy 25 jetliners from Boeing Co. after heated competition between the U.S. company and European rival Airbus Industrie.

The deal is one of the biggest aircraft purchases announced worldwide in 1985 and is among the largest for Boeing, the Seattle-based manufacturer.

The domestic airline said it will begin delivering the first 15 Boeing 767-300s in April, 1987, with deliveries spread over six years. The agreement includes an option to buy 10 more planes.

An All Nippon spokesman said the planes, with a range of nearly 3,950 nautical miles, will cost about $71.4 million each.

The Japanese carrier is buying the 290-seat planes to replace its fleet of 12 Boeing 727s, each of which carries 178 passengers, the spokesman said.

All Nippon said that earlier this year, airline officials had shopped around for replacement planes and the choice came down to Boeing’s 767-300 and the A-300-600s of Airbus Industrie, the European consortium.

All Nippon is gearing up to begin flying regular international routes after recent moves by the government to deregulate Japanese civil aviation and to allow the two domestic airlines to expand into overseas travel--now the sole province of Japan Air Lines, the partly government-owned carrier.

The deal capped what Boeing officials said has been a banner year of $12.44 billion in orders. Included were two of the largest orders in the company’s history--a $3.1-billion deal with United Airlines in November and a $2-billion order from Northwest Airlines.

But the year has also been one of the worst for Boeing in terms of air safety. Six of the year’s 20 fatal crashes involved Boeing planes, with a total of nearly 1,100 people killed.