Boeing's newest 737 family, the Next Generation 737-600, -700,
-800 and -900, has now logged over 10 million flight hours since
the first aircraft was introduced in 1998. The milestone was reached
in the week prior to the Paris Air Show and is equivalent to just
one aircraft flying non-stop for more than 1,141 years. Boeing
says that the 737NG is the world's fastest selling airplane family
and it is the first commercial airliner to reach the 10 million
hours mark in just five years. There are about 1,300 Next Generation
737s in airline service today with Boeing's total order book numbering
2,030 aircraft by April 2003.
Sesto Calende, Italy will be home to a new Rotorsim helicopter
training facility that will open in 2005. The facility will house
an Agusta A109 full-mission simulator built by CAE, a joint owner
of Rotorsim with Agusta SpA. The simulator will feature a roll-in/roll-out
switch enabling it to be configured for the civilian A109 Power
or the military A109 LUH. The facility will offer multimedia classrooms,
computer-based training, maintenance training and a training management
information system. Rotorsim estimates that facility will generate
about 80 million euros of business in its first 15 years, and
will spur long-term demand for more helicopter training platforms.
