According to Cawby, BBJ line 1466 (RC007) A4O-HMS for Oman Royal Flight delivered today, although no delivery flight was registered anywhere I could find. Anybody know where it went? Lufthansa Technik is expecting another 747-8 BBJ, but I'm not sure if it's this one. L3 is expecting another 747-8 BBJ as well.
Anyways, this is delivery 29 for the year. So close yet so far. Lines 1420 and 1422 are supposed to deliver this month, tying the 21st century delivery record of 31, but to break it it'll come down to line 1463 for ABC, which has finished non customer flight tests and should be out of paint any day, or line 1468 for a mysterious BBJ customer with ties to Qatar. This latter plane is painted but hasn't taken to the air yet. It should be close though, and line 1467 right before it only took eight days from first flight to delivery. Anything is possible!
Anyways, this is delivery 29 for the year. So close yet so far. Lines 1420 and 1422 are supposed to deliver this month, tying the 21st century delivery record of 31, but to break it it'll come down to line 1463 for ABC, which has finished non customer flight tests and should be out of paint any day, or line 1468 for a mysterious BBJ customer with ties to Qatar. This latter plane is painted but hasn't taken to the air yet. It should be close though, and line 1467 right before it only took eight days from first flight to delivery. Anything is possible!
If Boeing gets to 32 deliveries this year, it probably will have to come through LN 1468, the BBJ and not 1463 for ABC. The press release that came out when AirBridge took their first 747-8F stated the company is taking three aircraft this year (which they have done already) and two next year.
ReplyDeleteAn article in Aviation Week & Space Technology a few months back said Boeing planned to deliver eight 747 BBJs this year.
I agree. And 1468 is getting ready to fly this morning too. 1420 and 1422 are still question marks though. Should be "exciting" to see how this plays out.
ReplyDelete1468 is airborne and returning to PAE--not good--but there's still amost half the month left to get it out the door.
ReplyDelete