Boeing 777 Cleared For Takeoff United Airlines To Put Boeing’s Last New Jetliner This Century Into Service

United Airlines takes off today with the Boeing 777, a big new twin-engine jet that the carrier says will fly more cheaply across the Atlantic while giving passengers more room.

Don’t count on lower fares, although United’s airplane promises better on-board entertainment, once glitches in the computer system are worked out.

For The Boeing Co. of Seattle, this will be the last new jetliner of the century, and a competitor to two aircraft, the A330 and A340, made by European rival Airbus Industrie, a consortium of aviation companies from France, Britain, Germany and Spain.

The MD-11, made by McDonnell Douglas, is another competitor.

The first 777, christened “Working Together,” by United, where employees last year became majority owners, enters service today on a flight from London’s Heathrow Airport to Washington’s Dulles Airport.

United will use the 777 to replace its aging DC-10s, on both trans-Atlantic and some domestic U.S. flights. The company says it will save money on fuel; on crew, since the 777 uses a two-person cockpit team instead of three; and on maintenance.

“This replacement will increase our profits immensely,” United’s president and chief operating officer, John Edwardson, predicted.

United is alone among the so-called Big Three U.S. air carriers to become a customer, with some $4 billion in orders for 34 and options for another 34.