The spotlight is on the first Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner as it is presented to employees and press Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 at the Boeing Co. assembly facility in Everett, Wash. (AP)

Boeing Co. unveiled a long-range version of its 777 commercial airliner on Tuesday, which the company said can fly from London to Sydney, making it the world's longest-range commercial aircraft.

With the launch of the new 777-200LR "Worldliner," Boeing is hoping to attract airlines that will ferry passengers directly between multiple points.

The new, 301-passenger, long-range 777 is expected to make its first flight in March and will be delivered first to Pakistan International airlines, its launch customer for the new version of the 777, in January of 2006.

The twin-engine airplane, when equipped with three optional fuel tanks, will be capable of flying 9,420 nautical miles, enough to "connect any two cities in the world today," said Lars Andersen, Boeing's vice president in charge of the 777 program at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

"This is the longest-range airplane in the world," Andersen told a crowd of customers, suppliers, employees and reporters at Boeing's Everett plant north of Seattle, where the jumbo 747 and 767 planes are also built.

Even with a full-passenger payload in a typical three-class configuration, the 777-200LR will be able to connect cities as far-flung as Los Angeles and Johannesburg, London and Sydney, as well as New York and Jakarta, Boeing said.

The 777-200LR will compete directly with Airbus's A340-600 and A340-500, but have seat-mile costs 15 percent to 18 percent lower than those models, Boeing said.

The planes are powered by two General Electric GE90-115B engines, which the company said is the world's most powerful commercial jet engine, with 115,000 pounds of thrust.

Boeing is betting that airlines will be buying more mid-size jetliners in the same class as the 777 and its newest model, the 787, to ferry passengers between multiple cities, rather than gathering them at big airport hubs and carrying them on larger planes.

Boeing's main rival Airbus, which overtook the Chicago-based aerospace company last year as the world's largest commercial jet manufacturer, is betting that people will continue to travel through its major airport hubs, with its superjumbo A380 aircraft that can carry as many as 840 people.

(Agencies)