SWISSAIR PLANE ORDER FOR 1.2 BILLION SWISS FRANCS
Swissair <SWSZ.Z> said that the order
for McDonnell Douglas Corp <MD> MD-11 long haul jets confirmed
this morning was worth a total 1.2 billion Swiss francs.
    President Robert Staubli told a news conference it had not
yet been decided whether the planes would have General Electric
Co <GE.N>, Pratt and Whitney <UTX> or Rolls Royce engines.
    The airline said it chose the U.S. Plane rather than the
rival A-340 of the European Airbus consortium because it met
better the Swissair requirements and would be able to enter
service in 1990 giving a smooth transition from the DC-10s it
replaces.
    Staubli said Swissair planned to have replaced its whole
fleet of 11 DC10s by 1992 at the latest, entailing the order of
five more long-haul planes in addition to the six announced
today. He said it would decide on the basis of the development
of traffic whether these five would be MD-11s or Boeing 747s.
    However, Staubli ruled out the possibility that Swissair
might eventually choose A-340s. "We cannot afford to operate
three different types of aircraft," he said.
    Swissair also had no short term plans to exercise its
option to buy Airbus A-310s, of which it already operates nine,
officials said. But it would still hold the options open.
    Staubli declined to say how much it paid for each of the
MD-11s. The total 1.2 billion franc figure was not only for the
planes but also for spare parts and other related expenditure.
    Company officials said that Swissair intended to cover
around 75 pct of the costs of its entire DC-10 replacement
programme with internally generated funds. It hopes to raise
the remaining 25 pct on the Swiss and other capital markets
through issuing straight or equity related bonds and/or through
a capital increase.
    The first such bond issue would likely come this year, they
predicted.
 REUTER
