Boeing Delivers First 717s for Service in Europe

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Boeing Delivers First 717s for Service in Europe

    LONG BEACH, Calif., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The first two 717-200 airliners
for Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing Company were presented to Olympic
Aviation in a ceremony at the Boeing (NYSE: BA) Long Beach Division last
night. Olympic, based in Athens, Greece, has leased two 717s from Bavaria and
will be the first operator of the twin-engine jetliners in Europe.
    Painted in a distinctive livery featuring colorful interlocking rings on
the airplane tail sections, the airplanes are scheduled to enter passenger
service by the end of this month.
    Petros Stefanou, chief executive officer of Olympic Aviation, said the
airline plans to expand its route network regionally, using the 717s from
Thessaloniki to Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Munich, Paris, Stuttgart, and
Larnaca, Cyprus.
    Jerry Callaghan, director, 717 program, told an audience of employees,
leasing company and airline officials, "Olympic Aviation will provide the
first regularly scheduled service for the 717 outside the United States. We
believe the flying public in Europe will embrace the airplane's quiet and
clean performance as well as its high comfort level as enthusiastically as
travelers here in this country."
    AirTran Airways, launch customer of the 717-200, began flying the new
airplane on routes in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. last October.
    Bavaria ordered five 717-200s in May 1998. The leasing company, based in
Munich, Germany, has taken title to four of the airplanes. The fifth is
scheduled to be delivered by Boeing in April.
    Karsten Sensen, managing director of Bavaria International Aircraft
Leasing Company, said, "The 717 is based on the robust design of the Douglas
twinjets, and it incorporates modern technology and new engines. I am pleased
to see it is proving itself in service, and I believe it will meet all our
expectations with Olympic Aviation."
  34 seats in business class
and 71 in coach.
    The 717 is powered by two BR715 engines, developed by
Rolls-Royce-Deutschland, formerly BMW/Rolls-Royce. The engines are produced in
Dahlewitz, Germany. The BR715 helps make the 717 the quietest airplane in the
100-seat class, and the airplane also features emission levels well below
current limits established by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
    Boeing delivered 12 717s in 1999 and plans to deliver 33 this year before
moving to 60 per year beginning in 2001. The company has recorded 130 firm
orders and 125 options, including airplanes already delivered to customers.

SOURCE The Boeing Company

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