United Will Start Flying 777 In June Airline To Use New Boeing Jet On Domestic, Foreign Routes

Boeing’s new 777 jetliner will carry its first paying passengers on June 7, when United Airlines begins flying three of the huge new jets within the United States and to Europe.

United said its first scheduled revenue flight with the twinengine 777 will take off from London’s Heathrow Airport at 11:40 a.m. and will arrive at Washington, D.C.’s Dulles airport at 2:55 p.m., local times. Later in the day and on June 8, service will begin between Frankfurt, Germany, and Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, and Chicago and Denver.

Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reported Monday that United will start service in July with a fourth 777 between Newark and London, with continuing service to Amsterdam.

Boeing Commercial Airplane Group spokeswoman Donna Mikov said United, which placed the first orders for the 777 in 1990, is tentatively scheduled to receive its first airplane May 15.

The aircraft is expected to receive its basic certification from the Federal Aviation Administration in April, and Boeing anticipates the FAA will grant the plane permission to fly long, over-water routes shortly thereafter, Mikov said.

United’s 777s will carry approximately 363 passengers in two classes. The jet features video screens at each seat.

United’s initial 777s will actually be the seventh, eighth, ninth and eleventh of the planes built. The first production aircraft, owned by Boeing, Nos. 2 through 5, to be delivered later to United, and No. 6, to go to British Airways, all are taking part in an extensive flight testing program that began last year. Plane No. 10 is to be delivered to British Airways this summer, and should enter service in August, Mikov said.