Triple 7 Sighting Boeing Brings 777 Jet Here For Private Show

Boeing Co. employees in Spokane will get their first peek today at the new 777 passenger jet.

Fresh off the factory floor, a 777 built for United Airlines will be shown to workers and invited guests at the Spokane International Airport.

The jet includes floor panels, air control systems and console parts produced by the 450 employees at the Boeing plant in Airway Heights.

The visiting jet will not be available to the public. But it will be parked at Spokane Airways Flight Center, clearly visible from the airport concourses, said spokeswoman Diane Ressler.

“I don’t think anyone can miss it,” she said. “It’s different, bigger than the planes we normally see come in here.”

The planes were first placed into commercial service more than a year ago.

Boeing 777s have in the past touched down in Spokane during flight tests. This marks the first time one will be viewed up close by local officials and workers.

The 777 costs $122 million to $167 million to build, depending on the features. It can be configured to hold 292 to 440 passengers.

The versatile jet is critical to Boeing’s future and part of a new generation of airplanes expected to carry the company into the next century.

Boeing officials earlier this week said production of the widebody, twin-engine 777 will jump from five a month to seven by mid-1997.

That will require another 5,000 jobs in addition to plans for an increase of 8,200 employees announced earlier this year.

The hirings would increase Boeing’s total work force to 118,350 by the end of the year, from 105,180 on Jan. 1. Boeing’s peak employment was 165,787 in 1989.

Boeing said it has booked 333 orders for new jetliners so far this year, compared with 346 for all of last year and just 120 in 1994.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo