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Japan Airlines in no hurry to order 7E7 jet

By David Bowermaster
Seattle Times aerospace reporter

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Japan Airlines remains undecided about Boeing's 7E7 and is not prepared to make a public commitment to order the new jet, a spokesman for the carrier said yesterday from Tokyo.

The news will come as a disappointment at Boeing headquarters in Chicago, where the company's board of directors is expected to vote today on whether to authorize development of the proposed 200- to 250-seat airplane.

"The 7E7 will feature new technology that needs to be developed and tested, and we will resume our studies of this aircraft when the time is right," said Geoffrey Tudor, spokesman for the carrier, Japan's largest airline. "We don't know exactly when that will be."

According to recent news reports, Boeing hoped to secure an initial commitment to the 7E7 from either Japan Airlines or All Nippon Airways, Japan's second-largest carrier, to coincide with what is widely expected to be board approval of the new jet.

A spokesman for All Nippon could not be reached for comment last night.

The Boeing board also is expected to decide today whether to build the plane here, in Everett, or another state.

The 7E7 will use new lightweight composite materials for the fuselage and wings, new engines and a new suite of electronics systems.

Japan Airlines executives received formal presentations on the jet from Boeing in September and again in November, Tudor said.

The airline has 55 aging Boeing 767s and Airbus A300s. It has asked Boeing and Airbus, Boeing's European rival, for proposals to replace those jets later this decade.

But Tudor said the airline wants more time to evaluate the 7E7 and will not rush its verdict.

"We are in no hurry, as we do not see the need for medium-size aircraft replacements until 2008, at the earliest," Tudor said.

Japan Airlines President Katsuo Haneda is scheduled to meet with the media today in Tokyo and could have more to say about the 7E7.

Tudor stressed Japan Airlines has not decided against the 7E7, either.

"(The 7E7) is certainly of interest to us as a medium-size replacement candidate, as are products from Airbus," he said.

The 7E7 would be Boeing's first new airplane program since the board approved development of the 777 in 1989.

Boeing has promised the so-called "small wide-body" would fly as fast as a 747 but burn 20 percent less fuel than today's jets of comparable size. David Bowermaster: 206-464-2724 or dbowermaster@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company