Virgin Atlantic Airways Selects Rockwell Collins Liquid Crystal Displays for 747-400 Fleet

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (September 16, 2002) - Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL) announces that Virgin Atlantic Airways has selected Rockwell Collins' display technology for installation in its fleet of Boeing 747-400 aircraft. This is the first application of the new Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Displays for retrofit installation on this aircraft type and follows the company's recent introduction of the next-generation displays for Boeing's 747-400ER forward-fit aircraft. Installation on Virgin's fleet of 12 aircraft will begin in early 2003.

"Virgin Atlantic Airways will be the first Boeing 747-400 commercial operator to upgrade all it's 747-400's with the new technology of Rockwell Collins DU-7001," said Jeff Livings, Director of Engineering for Virgin Atlantic. "The airline recognizes the range of benefits that the DU-7001 has to offer including greater reliability and growth capability and looks forward to working with Rockwell Collins in developing new capabilities for DU-7001 in the future."

The 8 x 8-inch DU-7001 is based on Rockwell Collins' proven LCD technology. The new AMLCD features advanced graphics capabilities to support future options including Vertical Situation Display, airport surface maps and electronic checklists. With the addition of a video card the display can support advanced video capabilities such as synthetic vision or video surveillance systems. In addition to improved functionality, Rockwell Collins AMLCD offers evolutionary improvements in life cycle costs over traditional cathode ray tube displays.

"Virgin Atlantic Airlines is recognized as a leader in adopting value-based technology to enhance their fleet," said Randy Lincoln, vice president, Sales, Rockwell Collins Commercial System. "This new display system provides them with the flexibility to add enhanced functionality for increased data-intensive operations."

Rockwell Collins DU-7001 is engineered to be a form, fit and function replacement for the current CRT-based displays installed on earlier 747-400 models. The system supports onboard-loadable software for ease of installation and upgradeability.

Virgin Atlantic Airways has become Britain's second largest long haul carrier serving the world's major cities. Now based at both London's Gatwick and Heathrow airports, it operates long haul services to nineteen destinations world-wide as far apart as Las Vegas and Shanghai. The airline currently has a fleet of 23 aircraft which includes twelve 747s and ten A340-300s and one A340-600. The airline has pioneered a range of innovations setting new standards of service.

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