The Chart:

Monday, July 14, 2014

747-8I: Chariot of World Champions

Those crazy Germans won the World Cup yesterday, and are flying home to be adored in style on the Siegerflieger (Winner plane... sounds better in German). Line 1475 (RC028) D-ABYI is doing the honors. Flagship indeed.



13 comments:

  1. Here are some vids, pf the flypast, and Landing. Congrats.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54XHhx9bQvc

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27kLFXL6XU0

    Also, reminds me of a certain no. 12 that debuted earlier in the year, and yeah they won that game too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that second video is awesome. look at that crowd in the background! I'd be there to cheer for the 747 more than the team :)

      Delete
    2. Of you look closely you can see that they've got the cockpit hatch open, and the pilots are waving a German Flag!!

      Delete
  2. I posted this elsewhere, but it would be good to discuss here as well:

    Page 56 of the Day 2 Flight Daily News talks about the 747-8 and the improvements being made. While most of this has been covered before, what is relatively interesting is the caption to the photo, stating that range issues stopped Cathay Pacific from ordering the 747-8I, as well as the later text in the article that states that the longer stretch for capacity, which traded off for range, potentially drove away Cathay as well the more well known Emirates displeasure.

    I wonder if this means that Cathay is one of the potential customers that Boeing is driving the range increase for. We always thought it would be a good fit, especially considering the improvements would also make the freighter frames better.

    http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?pbid=e62562f6-7952-41b9-aab0-50788cf5784e

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whoops...looks like the permanent link for Flight Daily News, Day 2 Farnborough, should be here:

    http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=e6cdf2d4-9ded-4a49-b690-271414410f77

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, and now TK is saying they're back in the VLA market. Would be great if both of these become 747-8 customers by year's end.

      Delete
    2. Yes, this would be ideal. Add on a top-up from UN and LH perhaps and perhaps even some freighter orders, and that would be a great year.

      Delete
  4. Its not the same thing apparently.

    The article points out that supposedly CX wanted the shorter version that EK wanted not the longer version that LH bought. So it appears, that CX is seriously looking at the 747 but cant get the model they want. Either way it leads me to believe that CX has genuine interest in the 748 as it has bought many freighters, but the pax model is not to their liking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What's not the same thing? The caption in the picture clearly states that CX didn't buy the 747-8I because of range issues. That is because the shorter, original, stretch for the -8I had greater range, but Boeing went with the longer stretch, to make it the same length as the -8F and to give LH the capacity they wanted.

      Delete
    2. Well its not the same thing because I was under the impression that Boeing only pitched the plane to CX last year and not before the design freeze.which was when EK was looking at it.

      Or alternatively, CX has requested for the shorter model after the fact. I'm not sure what is going on here between Boeing and CX with regards to the passenger model, but this would mean that Boeing has made repeated attempts to push the 748I to CX, unsuccessfully. Also if range is an issue, then resolving those issues, would mean a greater chance of CX buying it. Also if CX was one of those customers that originally considered the short model, that would go some way towards why explaining why EK is on board with the latest round of discussions.

      Delete
    3. From my read, I assume that Boeing wanted to sell the 747-8 to CX back before launch, as well as after the frame entered into service. What the article seems to state is that range was more important to CX than the payload, and that with the shortfalls and delays for the original frames, it was not suitable for what they needed.

      The supposition now is that if Boeing makes the changes to push the real-world range of the frame to 8200 nm with reserves, they may be able to make it feet into their fleet planning.

      I agree that the same logic applies to EK, although from everything I have read, even in the past, EK was not terribly interested.

      Delete
  5. Matt Cawby is reporting that 1435 is undergoing refurbishment, and is slated for delivery to LH in March, 2015.

    http://kpae.blogspot.com/2014/07/paine-field-july-19.html

    It will be interesting to see how much of her gets work. Perhaps also, LH is one of the existing customers that Boeing was talking about placing follow-on orders.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, this makes me really happy for this frame. They're probably doing a standard refurb, replacing all of the panels in leading edge/forward area, wear and tear type parts, as well as swapping in some extra weight reduction/newer design pieces and parts.

      Delete