Japan Orders Seven Wide-Body Jets Valued at $820 Million From Boeing

Boeing Co. said it received an order from Japan Air System Co. for seven 777 wide-body airliners, valued at $820 million including spare parts and support.

Deliveries are to begin in the third quarter of 1996, and Boeing said the Japanese carrier has not yet chosen an engine for the planes. The 300-seat airliner’s list price is $115 million to $143 million.

Boeing has received a total of 130 orders to date for the twin-engine 777, which is scheduled to make its first flight next June, the plane maker said. Fifty-seven of the orders came from airlines based in Asia and the Pacific.

Separately, Boeing said it will avoid expensive high-tech control technologies as it upgrades its best-selling 737 with extended range capacity, the company said Tuesday.

On Monday, the company’s board authorized a new version of Boeing Co.’s 737, the 737-X.

“Our customers said to keep it simple, keep it reliable and keep our costs down,” said Gordon Bethune, general manager of Boeing’s Renton division, which makes 737s and 757s.

“Our customers aren’t interested in gee-whiz technology,” he said in a news briefing here.

The comment was a direct jab at competition from European rival Airbus Industrie, whose high-tech, 150-seat A320 has snatched away at least one prominent order from Boeing in the 100-150 seat category in the last year.