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Contact:
Warren Lamb
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Contact:
Warren Lamb
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
97-122
LONG BEACH, Calif., May 27, 1997 -- Final assembly has begun on McDonnell Douglas' (NYSE: MD) new 100-seat airliner, the MD-95-30 twin jet. The MD-95 is being produced by Douglas Aircraft Co. and its 14 supplier-partner companies worldwide. Douglas Aircraft Co. is the commercial transport division of McDonnell Douglas.
Production workers at Douglas Aircraft Co. lowered the MD-95's first center fuselage barrel onto the wing May 24, marking the start of final assembly. In the days ahead, they will join all three fuselage sections and then attach the nose and empennage. The airplane is scheduled to be sitting on its landing gear by the end of June.
First flight of the MD-95 is planned in the second quarter of 1998, with joint certification by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Europe's Joint Airworthiness Authority in 1999. ValuJet Airlines of Atlanta, the launch customer, is scheduled to receive the first MD-95 in mid-1999.
The aircraft's fuselage was built by Alenia in Italy and its wing was produced by McDonnell Douglas-Canada. Tracor Flight Systems in Palmdale, Calif., mated the wing halves. Beginning in 1998 MD-95 wings will be built by Hyundai Space and Aircraft Co. in Seoul, Korea.
McDonnell Douglas' Salt Lake City facility produced the first empennage. Empennages for production aircraft will be manufactured by the Aero Industry Development Center in Taichung, Taiwan. The first nose came from McDonnell Douglas in Huntington Beach, Calif. All other MD-95 noses are being produced by the Aerospace Division of Korean Air in Pusan, Korea.
In Dahlewitz, Germany, the MD-95's BR715 engine -- built by BMW Rolls-Royce -- is running in the initial phases of its development and certification program.
"The MD-95 program is moving ahead at a good pace," said Jim Phillips, vice president-general manager of the MD-95 program, "and by the end of December, 95 percent of the first test aircraft will have been assembled."
Work is proceeding on the second and third MD-95 test aircraft, and on the first production model. Currently, more than 500 McDonnell Douglas employees are working on the program, with an additional 1,900 people at the major supplier-partners.
The MD-95 is nearest in size, range and performance to the venerable DC-9. "Our new airplane was custom-designed for optimum performance in the 100-seat market, and it will satisfy a broad range of values for airlines, for passengers and airport communities," said Phillips.
Airlines will like the MD-95's low acquisition cost, low operating and maintenance costs, and excellent reliability, according to Phillips. In addition, passengers will enjoy the aircraft's newly styled interior, and airport communities will appreciate the twin jet's clean, quiet operation, he said.