American Airlines rolled out a daily double of major announcements recently by unveiling an innovative first class sleeper seat aboard some of its Boeing 777s on the same day it designated Alliance Maintenance Base in Fort Worth as the maintenance home of its entire 777 fleet.

The decision means that all major maintenance overhaul work on the long-range international 777s, American's newest and most advanced jets, will be performed at the Alliance Base. The airline's existing fleet of 23 777s will grow to 43 by the year 2002.

To get ready for the 777 work inside its Alliance hangar, American built a $10 million, 60-foot-tall steel maintenance structure called a Uni-Dock, which allows aircraft mechanics to perform maintenance on every part of the aircraft. The computerized Uni-Dock also fits 767s. The massive Alliance hangar has room for seven wide-body aircraft.

Staged with the dock for the dual announcement was an American 777 outfitted in first class with the Flagship Suite, an innovative sleeper seat with a swivel feature that lets two people to comfortably dine, chat or conduct business in flight. American will be introducing the Suites, which easily convert into 6-foot, 6-inch fully flat beds, in the first class cabins of 777 aircraft serving routes to Europe and South America. The first 777 equipped with 16 Flagship Suites went into regularly-scheduled service in late August.

"The goal was to give our premium customers the ultimate experience for inflight work, entertainment and rest," said Henry C. Joyner, American's senior vice president of planning. "We started out designing a seat, and ended up creating a whole new inflight environment."

Each Suite features a privacy divider, a six-way adjustable leather headrest, electronic seat controls, a laptop powerport, a phone with satellite communications and modem connection, as well as an 8.4-inch personal video monitor with a video player and multiple movie selections The Flagship Suite reclines 180 degrees to a fully flat position 6-feet 6-inches long.

David L. Campbell, vice president of Alliance base maintenance, said the 777 will give Alliance global standing in the airline industry and will be a big boost for the North Texas economy. "The 777 is the industry's premier aircraft, and from this day forward, the industry will know that Alliance is the home of the 777," Campbell said.

American officials were assisted in the dedication by Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr, who said to those gathered, "this facility is a great sense of pride to Fort Worth." American employs nearly 2,500 people at Alliance, and now expects that number to grow by another 350 jobs by 2007.