SEATTLE, Nov. 15, 1996 -- The Boeing 757-300, the newest and largest Boeing single-aisle airplane, has reached its firm design configuration milestone.

Achieving the milestone means that Boeing and its airline customers have decided on the configuration of the 757-300 and engineers can begin releasing design information to Boeing factories and suppliers. This initiates fabrication of parts, tools and assemblies for the new derivative airplane.

"Reaching this milestone means we've started on the path of bringing this new airplane from concept to reality," said Jack Gucker, vice president for Boeing 737/757 Derivative Programs.

Gucker said the 757-300 will have the shortest design to production and then delivery cycle time of any Boeing derivative airplane program. "We have only 27 months between firm configuration and the first delivery to Condor, our launch customer, in January 1999," he said.

Although the 757-300 is a simple stretch of the Boeing 757-200, the airplane will look different. The most distinctive feature will be its long body. At 178 feet, 7 inches, the 757-300 will be 23 feet, 4 inches longer than the 757-200. The extra length will be gained by extending the aircraft fuselage 160 inches in front of the wing and 120 inches behind it.

The extended fuselage allows the 757-300 to carry 20 percent more passengers and nearly 50 percent more cargo than the 757-200. As a result of the increased payload, the 757-300's wings, landing gear and certain body structures will be strengthened and the airplane will be outfitted with new wheels, tires and brakes. In addition, the newest 757's nose landing gear will be equipped with a spray deflector to divert away from the engines any spray kicked up by the nose wheel. Due to its increased length, the 757-300 will be equipped with a retractable tail skid.

The 757-300's passenger cabin will have an all-new interior decor and feature vacuum lavatories. Changes have been made to the cabin environmental control system to increase cabin air flow and improve the condition of cabin air.

"The only changes made to the airplane's operating systems will be those required to accommodate the additional passengers or to deal with the effect of the increased length on airplane handling characteristics," Gucker said.

The 757-300 will have a range of up to 4,000 statute miles and provide operators with about 10 percent lower seat-mile operating costs than the 757-200, which already has the lowest seat-mile operating cost in its market segment. Seat-mile operating costs are the measure airlines use to calculate the cost of transporting a passenger one mile.

"As a derivative, the 757-300 will complement the 757-200, not replace it," Gucker said. "Both models will be in production and will have the same flight deck and operating systems to maintain flight crew commonality."

The 757-300 was launched in September at the Farnborough Air Show based on an accepted proposal for up to 24 of the aircraft from the German holiday airline Condor Flugdienst.