Boeing

Boeing Delivers First Next-Generation 737 to easyJet

The Boeing Company today congratulated easyJet for taking delivery of its first Boeing Next-Generation 737-700 airplane. The airline will operate more than 40 of the world's best-selling jetliners on 28 routes to 18 destinations within Europe by 2004.

"We have a high frequency operation that requires the near perfect reliability of the 737, and the advantages of being an all-Boeing operation save us enormous time and money on maintenance, training and ground operations," said easyJet chairman Stelios Haji-Ioannou. "With this new member of the Next-Generation 737 family, our Europe route network becomes stronger and is able to grow."

The European airline operates one of the world's youngest fleets of Boeing 737s - with the average airplane being four years old. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, easyJet has a better on-time performance out of the U.K. than many of its competitors throughout 1999.

"The 737 provides optimal solutions for easyJet for both its international and domestic routes," said Toby Bright, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group vice president - European Sales. "The 737 offers high reliability, unmatched economics and the best passenger comfort in its class."

While the Next-Generation 737s are the newest, most-advanced design airplanes in their market segment today, they retain the reliable and economical characteristics that made 737 Classics so popular worldwide. Its dispatch reliability is beyond 99 percent. Dramatic revisions to the newest 737s include a new wing design for improved fuel capacity and increased aerodynamic efficiency. Designers also drew inspiration from the award-winning Boeing 777, placing large displays in the flight deck and updating the passenger cabin with contoured walls and ceilings, creating spaciousness and greater stowage capacity than in earlier 737 models.

The Boeing Next-Generation 737 is the fastest-selling jetliner of all time and is a leader in dispatch reliability. Boeing has logged orders for more than 1,700 Next-Generation 737s since launching the program in 1993.

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For further information:
Lewis Brinson
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Carrie Thearle
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