IPTN wins $5.5m contract to make Boeing-757 parts

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) has won a contract worth US$5.5 million to supply B-757 pressure bulkhead components to U.S giant Boeing Co.

The contract was signed earlier this month by Syaifurachman Noer, IPTN North America president, and Boeing representatives in Seattle, IPTN announced Monday.

IPTN spokesman M.T. Satoto said the contract showed Boeing's great confidence in continuing its 16-year-long cooperation with IPTN despite the country's economic crisis.

Satoto said that under the contract, IPTN would supply pressure bulkhead components to be used in Boeing-757 aircraft. He said the components had to be of very high quality because they were vital in the integration of the front and back sections of the plane.

IPTN-Boeing cooperation began in 1982 when the two companies signed an agreement to jointly develop aviation technology.

Since then IPTN has supplied several components for Boeing aircraft, such as trailing edge flaps for B-737 aircraft, high pressure rubber formings for B-747s and B-777s, keel beams for B- 767s and stowage bin assembly units for B-767s.

Boeing chairman Phil Condit said his company was very confident about the Indonesian economy's prospects, citing that the country had "a balance of human and natural resources".

"We will continue our cooperation with IPTN. We will continuously give training, technical aid and working packages to strengthen and to improve our relationship with IPTN," Condit said.

"Our cooperation with IPTN has given us chances to participate in developing the Indonesian aviation industry. We understand very well the hardships currently being experienced by our Asian partners and we'll work very hard to help them ease the problems."

The Boeing 757, designed using light materials with sophisticated wing configurations, is claimed to be the most economical on fuel consumption in the world.

The plane, with its low operating costs and 5,150-kilometer flight radius, is particularly economical for medium and short- range flights. (gis)