Boeing

Boeing today confirmed an order from AB Airlines, a London-based scheduled carrier, for six Boeing 737-700s.

"We are delighted to announce that we have chosen the Next-Generation 737 for our expanding service," said AB Airlines Chairman, Brian Beal. "We were particularly attracted by the reliability of the Next-Generation 737. We need a plane with a proven track record of short turnaround times in a high-utilization environment. AB Airlines operates routes from Gatwick to Lisbon, Berlin and Shannon and is actively looking at several new routes."

"AB Airlines needed a dynamic, efficient and reliable workhorse - they found it with the Next-Generation 737," said Tom Basacchi, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group Vice President - Europe/Russia.

The announcement was made yesterday at an event at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London to celebrate the news that the 737 family has passed the 4,000 mark in orders - more orders than the company's biggest competitor has won for its entire product line since it began business. AB Airlines is the first British carrier to purchase Next-Generation 737s, although several other UK-based airlines plan to lease Next-Generation 737 airplanes.

The Next-Generation 737 continues to be the fastest-selling jetliner in history. Since the program's launch, 40 customers have placed orders for more than 900 airplanes.