Aviation: A Lot of People For a Lot of Plane

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The Boeing Co.'s 747 superjet is designed to be so large and efficient that it can carry 490 people across oceans for much less than it costs the other subsonic jets to do the job today. To make the idea work, however, Boeing had to market the 747, which it seems to have done successfully. With parts for the prototype arriving daily at Boeing's Renton, Wash., plant, and the plane's first flight due in about 27 months, the nation's largest aerospace company has so far sold 102 of the jumbo jets at a price of more than $20 million apiece.

U.S. airlines—Pan American, TWA, American, Northwest Orient, Continental, United, National and World Airways—have ordered 70 of the big planes. Other orders have come from Lufthansa German Airlines, Japan Air Lines, BOAC, Air France, Alitalia, Irish International Airlines, KLM and Air-India. Most of the carriers prefer a first-and tourist-class seating that allows for 350 to 362 passengers. To Boeing, which had originally planned the 747 as a military transport that would be similar to Lockheed's successful C-5A, this almost negates the whole idea of the nine-abreast economy airliners. To prove the point, Boeing last week lined up 490 employees, photographed them (see cut) alongside a mock-up of the 747 to dramatize the capacity that the 747 is capable of carrying.