Boeing

Boeing today delivered the first Boeing 757-300 to operate in the United Kingdom to JMC Airlines, a Manchester, England-based charter carrier. The airplane -- and a second 757-300 for JMC - are being delivered as the airline gears up for the busy summer holiday season.

JMC will use the sleek 280-seat airplanes to carry passengers to holiday destinations, such as the Canary Islands, Spain, the Greek Islands, and Turkey.

"The Boeing 757-300 provides JMC the perfect mix of passenger comfort, reliability and economics," said Terry Soult, JMC Airlines managing director. "The airplane has an all-new Boeing777-style interior designed to make the passenger cabin more spacious and comfortable. It also is known for its on-time performance and unparalleled seat-mile costs."

JMC Airlines is the first carrier in the United Kingdom to operate a Boeing 757 model with the new passenger-pleasing cabin interior.

The 757-300 is an environmentally friendly airplane. It burns less fuel than older mid-range airplanes, meets community noise restrictions well below current Stage 3 limits and complies with strict new international emissions standards.

The 757-300 also has the lowest seat-mile costs of any single-aisle and any mid-sized airplane on the market. The airplane model entered service in 1999 and quickly established a strong reputation for reliability. In its first year of revenue service with Condor, a German airline owned by C&N Touristic, 99.64 percent of flights departed on time.

C&N Touristic, the second largest travel group in Europe and the third largest in the world, also owns JMC Airlines. C&N acquired JMC and Thomas Cook, JMC's parent organization, in March this year.

"Like Thomas Cook, JMC is a pioneer in the European leisure industry," said Toby Bright, Boeing Commercial Airplanes senior vice president - Europe and Russia. "JMC was the first operator in the United Kingdom to recognize the potential and appreciate the benefits of the 757-300."

Boeing airplanes have partnered with Thomas Cook since the early days of aviation, when the British tour operator began transporting its clients on models operated by early carriers.

As the European leisure industry evolved, tour companies such as Thomas Cook began establishing their own airlines. Boeing worked with those charter carriers to provide airplanes that could fly non-stop to holiday destinations, and continually worked to improve the level of passenger comfort.

"The European charter market is tremendously important to Boeing," Bright said. "Charter flights account for nearly a third of all air traffic in Europe."