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Alitalia orders

five Boeing 747-400s

SEATTLE: The Boeing Company recently announced a firm order from Alitalia Ñ Linee Aeree Italiane, S.p.A Ñ for five Boeing 747-400 passenger aeroplanes. Deliveries of the planes are scheduled to being in March 2001.

When delivered, the five new passenger planes will join Alitalia's fleet of 157 Ñ 118 of which are Boeing comprising 11747-200s, eight MD-11s, nine 767-300ERs (extended range) and 90 MD-80s.

These plane orders have been accounted for in cumulative order totals published previously by Boeing. Until this announcement, the customer for the order was unidentified.

"The 747-400 will be a great addition to our fleet," said Mario Rosso, Alitalia Executive Vice President, Business and Fleet Development. "With its state-of-the-art inflight entertainment systems, and increased range and capacity, more of our passengers will be able to travel comfortably on non-stop flights from Milan and Rome. These planes will serve North and South America, the Far East, South Africa and Australia.

Alitalia currently serves 130 destinations in 63 countries, carrying 25 million passengers and 300,000 tonnes of freight every year. The airline has more than 50,000 connections throughout the world with a total of 5,000 flights a week.ÑPR