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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 0098.PDF
Eastern A/r Lines was, with United Airlines, one of the first two carriers to buy the Boeing 727—each ordering 40. Last month Eastern ordered five more 727s and is to lease another five, bringing its total order to 50 FUTURE FOR M E D I U M - H A U L JETS JUST over four years ago—on December 5, 1960—Eastern AirLines ordered 40 of Boeing's projected tri-jet medium-haul, medium-capacity 727 transport. At the same time United Air Lines placed a similar order. After a relatively slow start to sales, the total stood for a year or so at about 100—and well below the required break-even figure of about 200 aircraft. Today the prospects for the 727 look better than ever before— and the same is also true of its British and French rivals, the Hawker Siddeley Trident and the Sud-Aviation Super Caravelle. The reason seems to be twofold. First, all three of these aircraft are "second-generation" jet transports and the two which have now been in service for some time have shown remarkable reliability. Secondly (and perhaps a corollary of the first fact), they are proving to be very economical—as in the case, for instance, of an earlier second-generation aircraft, the classic Douglas DC-6B of the 1950s. But perhaps the real secret behind the present hopeful long-term prospects for these three airliners is that there are no immediate prospects that they may be superseded by technological develop- ments. On longer hauls the supersonic transports are still an unknown quantity but a likely possibility; and for short hauls VTOL is a threat. The medium-haul, medium-capacity market is likely to remain theirs for many years to come. More than 235 Boeing 727s have been ordered by 14 airlines—so the originally calculated break-even number of 200, for what it is now worth, has been substantially improved upon. After the initial orders from Eastern and United—which provided the impetus for the decision to start production—American Airlines, in the spring of 1961, gave Boeing a letter of intent to buy, and later placed an order for 25—since increased to 27. First carrier outside the United States to buy this medium-haul jet was Lufthansa. This "foreign" order was followed later by orders from Trans- Australia Airlines and Ansett-ANA. In keeping with the competi- tive "two-airline" 'policy in Australia, each of these airlines bought two and this order has since been increased to three each. Comparatively few orders for the 727 have, in fact, so far come from carriers outside the USA. More recently British West Indian Airways ordered three. South African Airways ordered five and All Nippon Airways became the sixth foreign carrier in the 727 order list with a total requirement for six. Recent repeat orders—in particular, for instance, from Lufthansa —show that ihe requirement for the medium-sized, medium-haul jet is a continuing one and that there is likely to be a market for this size and type of aircraft for a dozen years at least. This market has probably been further widened by the Boeing proposal for a combination passenger-freight version of the 727, though only three of these have so far been ordered—by Northwest Airlines. The problem for the manufacturers will be that of keeping the production lines open on a basis of a continuing series of relatively small repeat orders and those from minor airlines which have yet to reach decisions on future re-equipment.
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