=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/2003/09/19/f= inancial0744EDT0016.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, September 19, 2003 (AP) Boeing looking to Japan, other markets for proposed Dreamliner jet (09-19) 04:44 PDT TOKYO (AP) -- U.S. aircraft maker Boeing Co. sees great potential in the Japanese mark= et as well as the rest of the world for its proposed 7E7 jet, a company official said Friday. "We think we have a real winner in this product," Boeing director Randy Tinseth, who is in charge of marketing, said during a visit to Tokyo. Boeing plans to sell 2,000 to 3,000 of the mid-sized 7E7 Dreamliner jets in the next 20 years although it does not have a regional breakdown for the sales, Tinseth said. The 7E7 jets, which carry 200 to 250 passengers, are lighter and more fu= el efficient than current comparable models. The planes will have wider aisles, more cabin humidity and will feel as if passengers are flying at a lower altitude than in other airplanes, according to Boeing. The suppliers will be announced later this year for the new jet, expected to make its first flight in 2007 and be delivered the following year. Boeing is in talks with 50 airlines about the new jet, Tinseth told reporters. Boeing foresees airplane demand remaining strong over the next 20 years, adding more than 24,000 planes, 18,000 of them in growth and nearly 6,000 in replacement planes. Tinseth said Boeing does not have a market share forecast. Boeing has been struggling amid a slump in the commercial aviation marke= t, posting a second straight quarterly loss for the April-June period. But in the long run, demand for air travel will grow, and the 7E7 will be attractive for short-distance and long-distance flights for Japanese and other carriers, Tinseth said. Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to need about 6,200 new planes in the next 20 years, he said. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP