The spotlight is on the first Boeing 777—200LR Worldliner as it is presented to employees and press Tuesday， Feb。 15， 2005 at the Boeing Co。 assembly facility in Everett， Wash。 （AP）
Boeing Co。 unveiled a long—range version of its 777 commercial airliner on Tuesday， which the company said can fly from London to Sydney， making it the world"s longest—range commercial aircraft。
With the launch of the new 777—200LR "Worldliner，" Boeing is hoping to attract airlines that will ferry passengers directly between multiple points。
The new， 301—passenger， long—range 777 is expected to make its first flight in March and will be delivered first to Pakistan International airlines， its launch customer for the new version of the 777， in January of 2006。
The twin—engine airplane， when equipped with three optional fuel tanks， will be capable of flying 9，420 nautical miles， enough to "connect any two cities in the world today，" said Lars Andersen， Boeing"s vice president in charge of the 777 program at Boeing Commercial Airplanes。
"This is the longest—range airplane in the world，" Andersen told a crowd of customers， suppliers， employees and reporters at Boeing"s Everett plant north of Seattle， where the jumbo 747 and 767 planes are also built。
Even with a full—passenger payload in a typical three—class configuration， the 777—200LR will be able to connect cities as far—flung as Los Angeles and Johannesburg， London and Sydney， as well as New York and Jakarta， Boeing said。
The 777—200LR will compete directly with Airbus"s A340—600 and A340—500， but have seat—mile costs 15 percent to 18 percent lower than those models， Boeing said。
The planes are powered by two General Electric GE90—115B engines， which the company said is the world"s most powerful commercial jet engine， with 115，000 pounds of thrust。
Boeing is betting that airlines will be buying more mid—size jetliners in the same class as the 777 and its newest model， the 787， to ferry passengers between multiple cities， rather than gathering them at big airport hubs and carrying them on larger planes。
Boeing"s main rival Airbus， which overtook the Chicago—based aerospace company last year as the world"s largest commercial jet manufacturer， is betting that people will continue to travel through its major airport hubs， with its superjumbo A380 aircraft that can carry as many as 840 people。
本週二（2月15日），波音公司公開了一款777遠程商用客機。波音公司表示，這款飛機能夠從倫敦直接飛抵悉尼，是迄今爲止世界上飛得最遠的商用飛機。
波音公司希望通過推出這款新型的777—200LR“環球飛機”吸引更多提供多地間直飛服務的航空公司。
新型的777 LR遠程商用飛機能夠載客301人，預計將於今年3月進行首飛，並將於2006年1月首先向其客戶巴基斯坦國際航空公司交貨。
這款雙引擎飛機備有三個可供選擇的油箱，具有飛行9420海里（1。7446萬公里）的能力。據波音公司副總裁、波音商用飛機777項目負責人拉斯·安德森稱，它足以“連接當今世界上任何兩座城市”。
在西雅圖北部埃弗雷特的'波音飛機制造廠（波音747和767飛機也在此生產），安德森對聚集在此的客戶、供應商、波音員工和新聞記者們說：“這是地球上飛得最遠的飛機。”
波音公司表示，即便乘客滿員，典型三級客艙佈局的777—200LR也能將世界上兩個相距極其遙遠的城市連接起來，比如洛杉磯和約翰內斯堡、倫敦和悉尼、紐約和雅加達。
波音777—200LR將與空中客車公司的A340—600和A340—500展開競爭，但波音公司表示，該機型的每一座位英里成本比“空客”的兩款機型低15%到18%。
這款飛機配備了兩套美國通用電器公司生產的GE90—115B引擎。通用電氣公司表示，這是迄今世界上最強大的商用噴氣機引擎，具有11。5萬磅的推進力。
波音公司相信各航空公司會購買更多像波音777和最新款787同類型的中型噴氣式客機，以便在多個城市之間運送乘客，而不是把乘客集中在一個大的空港，用更大型的飛機運載。
總部設在芝加哥的波音航空公司的主要競爭對手是空中客車公司。去年“空客”超過了波音，成爲世界上最大的商用噴氣機制造商。“空客”確信人們將繼續通過大型空港中轉旅行，而它的超大型客機A380的載客量達到了840人。
