Seattle, WA, Aug. 11 _ Boeing Co. has invested $11 million for
 a 9.1 percent stake in a China-based venture that maintains and
 repairs jets for several Asian airlines, officials of the aerospace
 giant said Monday.
      Boeing officials said they hoped the investment in Taikoo
 (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd., would help meet growing
 demand for repair and maintenance of its planes in China, which has
 been rapidly expanding its commercial fleet.
      In addition, the venture could strengthen Boeing's relation-
 ships with Cathay Pacific Airways, Singapore Airlines, Japan
 Airlines and China's Civil Aviation Administration, which also
 own stakes.
      The aircraft maintenance group, known as TAECO, is managed by
 Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd., its largest shareholder
 and a unit of Swire Pacific of Hong Kong, which also owns Cathay
 Pacific.
      In addition to maintaining and repairing Boeing 747, 737 and
 757 jets, TAECO, based in China's Fujian province, will have the
 capability of modifying up to three older 747 jumbo jets annually
 from passenger to all-cargo configuration, the companies said in
 a statement.
                    Wichita Workers to Travel
     Boeing has done 75 conversions of Boeing 747-200s since 1989 at
 its facilities in Wichita, Kan. Boeing workers from Wichita would
 travel to China to oversee any conversions there.
      The investment is the latest move by Boeing to expand through
 joint ventures into areas related to its core business of manufac-
 turing commercial jets.
      Boeing Enterprises, a unit of the Boeing's commercial airplane
 group, was established this year to explore such opportunities and
 has completed several deals, including a $200 million joint training
 venture with FlightSafety International.
      In April, Boeing Enterprises President Larry Clarkson said the
 unit was planning an aircraft maintenance venture, but he denied
 reports that Boeing was moving rapidly to take over the heavy main-
 tenance operations of one or more major carriers.
 -------------------------------------------------
                      AVIATION - Deadly crashes
     Is flying getting more dangerous? News in early August might
 have given that impression. A Korean Air flight smashed into a hill
 on its approach to Guam, killing 225; a cargo plane crashed in
 Miami, killing at least four people and narrowly missing a crowded
 business area; and 12 passeqgers were hurt when a fire forced a
 Delta pilot to abort a takeoff from Honolulu.
     But initial evidence indicated that the spate of accidents did
 not result from generic safety problems. In fact, the safety records
 of U.S. airlines has been im- proving. Their fatal accident rate
 dropped from 1.08 to 0.91 per 100,000 hours flown between 1991 and
 1996. The commercial-airliner record is even better. America oper-
 ates half the world's flights but accounts for only 8 percent of
 fatalities--and three U.S. agencies have stsrted a drive to cut
 that number by 80 percent within 10 years. One concern is cutting
 back on human errors, which may have caused the Guam crash.
 -Katia Hetter
 U.S. News & World Report, August 18 / August 25, 1997
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