Boeing 777 Clears Key Hurdle Federal Aviation Administration Allows New Jetliner To Operate Long Flights Without Usual Delay

The government Tuesday cleared extended flights by Boeing’s new 777 - the first such approval ever for a plane that has not yet entered service.

Boeing and Federal Aviation Administration officials held a Boeing Field ceremony to mark the “ETOPS” approval for Pratt & Whitney-powered 777s.

ETOPS, or extended twin-engine operations, allows flights routed as much as three hours from the nearest airport, providing travelers with the most direct transoceanic routing. Until now, such approval was granted only after two years of service.

The 777 used for the ETOPS flight testing made more than 1,000 flights between October and May - the last 400 hours with personnel from United Airlines, the plane’s first customer. UAL plans its first 777 revenue flight June 7, from London to Washington, D.C.

Boeing so far has orders for 144 of the 777s, with United, British Airways and Cathay Pacific the big customers.

Testing is still under way for 777s driven by General Electric engines, with ETOPS certification expected in August and delivery of the first plane to British Airways scheduled in late September, said company spokesman Bill Cogswell.

Cathay Pacific has ordered the plane with Rolls Royce engines. Flight tests just got under way, with ETOPS certification expected in January and delivery in the first quarter of 1996, Cogswell said.

United’s planes have Pratt & Whitney engines.

Analysts disagreed on whether ETOPS approval was likely to boost sales.

“Now that they’ve got instant ETOPS ‘out of the box’ I think we ought to see a lot of orders hit the tape almost immediately,” said aerospace analyst Nick Heymann with NatWest Market Securities in New York.

“I think a lot of them will show up at the (Paris) Air Show” in June, Heymann said.

Analyst Bill Whitlow with Pacific Crest Securities in Seattle agreed the ETOPS clearance “makes it a much better trans-oceanic airplane.”

But he said the milestone was not expected to generate a flurry of orders.