=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/05/07/f= inancial2029EDT0372.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, May 7, 2003 (AP) Boeing pitches 717 as new corporate jet to spur sales HELEN JUNG, AP Business Writer (05-07) 17:29 PDT SEATTLE (AP) -- It may not be the best time to pitch a new corporate jet to cash-strapped companies, but that's not stopping the Boeing Co. At the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Geneva on Wednesday, the Chicago-based aerospace manufacturer announced it will make a version of its low-selling 717-200 available as a corporate jet. Boeing already sells its Boeing Business Jet, a version of the 737-700, which can be outfitted with showers, beds and other flying luxuries. The unfinished jet sells for about $40 million with another $10 million or so for the interior. The program has been more successful than Boeing expected, said analyst Paul Nisbet of JSA Research. Since 1996 -- when Boeing announced the program, anticipating six or eight orders a year -- the company has received orders or commitments for more than 80 planes. "This airplane can save significant time in the travel process, which wi= ll reduce many of the hard costs of air travel -- air fare, hotels, food and entertainment -- as well as the 'soft' costs: time spent in transit, at terminals, waiting at the gate, delays at baggage claim and waiting to get a taxi or rental car," said Thad Dworkin, sales director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Boeing believes the new offering will help bolster its 717 jet program in Long Beach, Calif., said spokesman Bob Saling. There have been no new orders for the plane this year, the backlog of planes to be built has dwindled to 36 and the line is producing only one jet a month. Last year, American Airlines returned a couple dozen 717s inherited in i= ts acquisition of bankrupt TWA. Boeing was able to get AirTran Airways to lease 22 of them, but the low-fare carrier cut nine planes from its previous order for new 717 jets. Other U.S. 717 customers are Hawaiian Airlines, now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and Midwest Airlines. The 717-200, which seats about 106 in commercial use, would be configured to seat 40 to 80 people in a first-class or business-class configuration for the 717 Business Express program. It would have a range of about 3,500 miles. Typically, the Business Express plane with an unfinished interior would sell for a little less than the 717-200 list price of $35.5 million to $39.5 million, said Saling. Boeing is in talks with a few customers, Saling said, though he declined to identify them and said there are no firm orders yet. "It's enough to feel like we had something to move forward with," he sai= d. "We realize that we may be in this (downturn) for a little while, but things are going to get better." Boeing is looking ahead to a recovery, hoping to find a new niche to expand its 717 sales, Nisbet said. But it may take some time, and companies may not rush back to travel even when the economy does fully recover. "Right now the market's pretty darn soft," he said. "A lot of businesses have gotten used to the idea of not traveling that much." ^On the Net: www.boeing.com =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP