=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2005/07/15/financial/= f021244D85.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, July 15, 2005 (AP) Boeing Confident It Can Catch Up to Airbus By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer (07-15) 02:46 PDT SINGAPORE, (AP) -- With its sales lagging behind Airbus, Boeing Co. is confident its newest 777 model will help it catch up to its archrival in the high-stakes battle for long-range jet supremacy. The new 777-200LR Worldliner is designed to compete directly with the popular Airbus 340-500, which has a flight range of 10,380 miles. "Airbus had an advantage to sell that kind of airplane without any competitor at the time," Lars Anderson, vice president of Boeing's 777 program, said Friday, while on a 20-city tour around the world pitching the new jet. Both Boeing and Airbus claim their planes are the world's longest-range airliners. In mid-2004, a Singapore Airlines A340-500 set a world record by flying 18 hours from Singapore to New York, the longest distance for a nonstop commercial flight. "The 777-200LR is capable of connecting almost any two cities in the wor= ld nonstop" Boeing said in a statement. Still, the first delivery of the 777-200LR, to Pakistan International Airlines, isn't until 2006. Already, 18 A340-500s are in use by some of the world's biggest carriers like Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific. Boeing says its plane has several advantages over its Airbus competitor: It claims to use 20 percent less fuel and can carry more passengers and up to 11 tons more cargo. The 777-200LR carries 301 passengers in a three-class configuration. The A340-500 carries 280. Pakistan's national carrier has ordered two of the new Boeing planes whi= le Taiwan's Eva Airways has placed orders for three. Three other airlines have also made firm commitments to the plane, Boeing said in a statement Friday. The plane, Boeing's fifth version of the 777, is part of a program that began in 1989. As recently as last year, when Airbus was speeding ahead with orders for its long-range offerings — the A340-500, A380s and A350s — Boeing was still working on its mid-range 787 Dreamliner. The Chicago-based company, which builds most of its commercial planes in the Seattle area, has lost to Airbus in commercial airplane sales the past two years. At the Paris air show, Le Bourget, in June, Airbus sold $33.5 billion worth of airplanes with 280 orders while Boeing made 146 jet sales worth about $15 billion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005 AP