Boeing Gets $4.1-Billion Order From British Airways for 28 Jets
British Airways ordered up to 28 747-400 long-range jumbo jets worth $4.1 billion from Boeing on Friday in what would be the largest single purchase in commercial aviation history.
The British airline placed a firm order for 16 of the planes, worth $2.3 billion, and took options on 12 more. The confirmed purchase of 16 planes pushes Boeing’s confirmed commercial aircraft orders to $15.2 billion for 1986, surpassing last year’s record total of $14.9 billion.
The 747-400, the newest version of the Seattle-based aerospace company’s four-engine jumbo jet, is scheduled for rollout in 1988. It is projected to be the longest-distance commercial airliner in existence with a range of about 8,000 miles, opening up new routes to international carriers.
“The plane has been meeting with a lot of success,” said William Whitlow, an analyst for Dain Bosworth who follows Boeing. “The airlines that don’t have the airplane could be at a competitive disadvantage.”
The British order “will keep (Boeing) people working through the early 1990s,” company spokesman Jim Boynton said Friday. He added that the order probably would not require Boeing to hire additional workers. “It simply extends present employment into the 1990s, gives it stability,” he said.
The largest single firm order for airliners in Boeing’s--and commercial aviation--history remains the company’s $3.1-billion deal with United Airlines in November, 1985; at that time, United ordered 110 737-300s and six 747-200s. Last March, Boeing announced an order from Singapore Airlines for 14 747-400s with options for six more that could push the total value of the purchase to $3.3 billion.
Along with its greater range, the 747-400 offers greater fuel efficiency and operating efficiency and needs only a two-member cockpit crew.
The British Airways 747-400s will be powered by a Rolls-Royce 524D4D engine, the latest version of the British company’s RB211 model. Although British Airways chose a British company over two American competitors--Pratt & Whitney and General Electric--to build the engines, analyst Whitlow said its decision to buy the planes themselves from Boeing is something of a blow to the European-based Airbus Industrie consortium.
James Chancellor, an airline analyst with S. G. Warburg, said that there had been some pressure for British Airways to buy from Airbus Industrie but that Airbus does not have a long-range jetliner to compete with the 747-400.
