All but off the Ground

Even as it was talked about in Cannes, Hammarskjold's "new era of real mass air transportation" was taking physical form 7,000 miles away in Everett, Wash. Towed out of a huge Boeing Co. plant came the first aircraft of the new era: the 747 "jumbo jet." After considerable ceremony, the gigantic plane was turned over to technicians to be prepared for its first test flight. Although that flight is not scheduled until December, the 747 is very impressive even on the ground, and its potential is immense. The plane is 231 ft. long, will have a fully loaded weight of 355 tons, a cruising speed of 625 m.p.h. and a possible passenger capacity of 490 (v. 180 for its 707 predecessor).

Moving Along. For Boeing, which has recently run into some embarrassing design reversals in its supersonic-transport program, the 747 is moving along at a gratifying pace. In the 30 months since Chairman (then president) William M. Allen determined to go ahead with the project, Boeing has raised about $1 billion in financing. It has ordered components from 1,500 prime suppliers, cleared a forest near Everett, constructed a $200 million manufacturing and assembly complex and sold 158 of the $20 million planes to 26 airlines. Along the way, Boeing engineers had to lick serious weight problems that threatened at one point to scuttle the whole program. Still, this week's roll-out was a day ahead of schedule.

Boeing's investment remains a gamble. At first, the 747 was designed for long-haul flights at bargain fares. But the original idea has been slightly altered. Fearful of being able to fill 490 economy seats--and of running their present jet fleets out of business--the airlines have all but abandoned the cheap-fare concept. To fill planes at current fares, many are opting for 350-seat layouts and devoting the rest of the space to such frills as 71-ft. movie screens and a "penthouse lounge" that converts to two twin-bed staterooms.

High Expectations. Such plans may trim Boeing's hopes for a mass-travel market that would have some 450 of the new planes in service by 1976. Then, too, unforeseen competition now looms from Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas, whose "airbuses," originally designed for shorter hops, could well be stretched in range and payload. Still, Boeing expects that history will repeat itself. When the last "new era" in flight came in the late 1950s, the then-new jetliners expanded air travel beyond even the most optimistic expectations.

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