A BBJ 748 Finally Delivers

It looks like line 1468 RC008 VQ-BSK, a Boeing Business Jet for a former Qatari emir, has delivered, making the flight from the US to Bournemouth yesterday. I don't know what the hell this very old former emir needs with a beautiful jet like this, but hopefully he enjoys it. And any fan/owner of the 747 is a friend of mine!

Photo by jrcaviation

A number of other BBJ 747s were supposed to deliver by the end of 2014, but none of them made it. One of the other Qatar frames was spotted outside of the hanger, but so far no real news on when we'll have our next delivery.

Who Doesn't Love BBJs

There's been very little noise about them lately, but this recent article provides some update on the status of our (9) 747-8 BBJs. Parsed to correspond with the order of the chart's BBJ tab:

1. Line 1434: Expected delivery by the end of 2015
2. Line 1439: Expected delivery by the end of 2014
3. Line 1440: Expected delivery by the end of 2014
4. Line 1446: Currently stored and looking for a customer
5. Line 1449: Expected delivery by the end of 2014 or early 2015
6. Line 1459: Expected delivery by the end of 2014
7. Line 1466: Expected delivery by the end of 2014
8. Line 1468: Expected delivery by the end of 2015 2014(?)
9. Line 1495: Expected delivery to BBJ early January 2015, so this one should be leaving storage in the next month or two. She'll probably go to Lufthansa Technique in January and deliver to the customer in late 2016.

So, the BBJ chart should start seeing some green by the end of the year. Unfortunately I can't get too excited about BBJs, as I've ranted about what a waste they are before... but I'm sure Boeing loves the money.

UPDATE: BBJ #8 (line 1468 RC008 VQ-BSK) is apparently done. She went up for a test flight and is pending delivery.

747-8s Going to the Desert Again

As you can see in the chart, new 747-8s are starting to go into storage again. NCA, Cargolux, Silk Way, and now even a Boeing Business Jet for Qatar are in or about to be in desert storage at Pinal Airpark, as well as a few that will apparently be stored at Paine Field. 

The NCA and Cargolux frames I'm not concerned about. They've both already stored and subsequently taken frames last year, and it's just a matter of fiscal issues that's causing the deferrals. All of these frames will most likely be delivered into service by the end of the year.

Silk Way's are less clear. Silk Way currently operates three 747-400F (two under the Silk Way West subsidiary). I don't know if they plan on expanding with the four 747-8Fs they have ordered, or if they'll replace the 400Fs. Either way, their first 747-8F is going into short term storage at KPAE, while the second is going into long term. Hopefully we can infer from this that they'll be taking one for delivery this summer, and one towards the end of the year.

The BBJ is more depressing. Here's a jet that, at best, has to sit around undergoing mods for one or two years before it goes into private service, which is already a questionable use of the word service. So now we are left to wait an unknown amount of time for it to come out of long term storage, to then go into modification for one or two years, to then eventually fly a few rich dudes around once in a while. Not exactly an auspicious future for this frame, and I'm not holding my breath waiting to see it fly. What could be the reasons for the delay? Is Abu Dhabi running out of money?

In good news, it looks like Korean Air Cargo line 1481 (RC548) HL7623 is getting ready to deliver. That is, unless she goes into storage too.

And in honor of poor line 1495 (RC009) A6-PFB (?), here she is taking off this morning on a final flight into storage.

B1s Are Back

It looks like 747-8 flight testing is starting to pick up around KPAE, finally. Line 1495 (RC009) A6-PFB (unconfirmed tail) for Abu Dhabi Amiri (BBJ) went up for a B1, and then line 1490 (RC510) LX-VCJ for Cargolux did too. Line 1481 (RC548) HL7623 for Korean Air Cargo should finally get a B1 in soon as well.

Here is line 1495's B1, by moonm:

(UPDATE: Line 1481 is up in the air. Finally after 6 months of neglect. In the comments Piotrek says it's HL7623 and is likely correct.)

In random news, KLM MD11 PH-KCD (to be retired this year with the other three remaining KLM MD11s) has ~85,000 hours and ~13,000 cycles. Man I felt like a dork asking the captain, but he was cool and read it right off the ship's logs.

Last BBJ Rolls Out, Atlas Woes (Damn You Akbar!)

Line 1495 (RC009) for Abu Dhabi Presidential Flight, the last scheduled BBJ, rolled out yesterday. I don't really like BBJs. I mean, I like the occasionally interesting liveries, and really there isn't a 747 I don't love deeply, but what really bugs me about BBJs is that they're just kind of a waste of a perfectly good frame. Especially for a jumbo jet. A jumbo jet should be carrying large quantities of stuff to far away places day after day. A BBJ carries a couple people maybe once in a while. I doubt these BBJ's will ever even log 5,000 hours. For an example, lets look in on Lufthansa 747-8I line 1443 (RC022) D-ABYA. After about two years in service she has almost 10,000 hours in the air, and has carried over 400,000 people, not to mention tens of thousands of tons of cargo (roughly calculating) to destinations all over the world.

Now take line 1446 (RC004) HZ-HMS1. Cue trombone: wah wah wah wahhhhhhhhh...

Sitting around for over a year in Basel Switzerland with about 20 hours on the clock, waiting to eventually get some ostentatious interior, so that one day she may fly ten or less people to a ski vacation in the Alps two or three times a year. Or whatever. Anyways, I know it's good business for Boeing, but as 747 enthusiasts I'm sure you get my point.

In case you haven't heard, Atlas got dumped by British Airways. Specifically, Atlas subsidiary Global Supply Systems' contract with British Airways parent International Airlines Group will lapse in April of this year, and the three 747-8Fs that flew with the British Airways livery will be returned. IAG stated that they don't need the capacity anymore, what with all the belly space they have in their passenger airliners. However, they'll be leasing capacity to Hong Kong on Qatar 777Fs. Something about that sound familiar? Well yes, you're not mistaken; our wonderful friend Akbar Al Baker is at it again, insidiously undermining the 747-8F with every opportunity he can get. You might remember him from late 2012 when he tried to get Cargolux to dump their remaining 747-8F orders and use his Qatar 777Fs instead, before getting rejected and running home in tears. This time he seems to have landed a successful blow. Hope you're unhappy Akbar!

It's unclear whether Atlas has work lined up for these soon to be unemployed 747-8Fs, but they'll need to be repainted rather soon one way or the other. Atlas did recently land a new Hong Kong based contract, so perhaps these frames will help out there, although I was hoping Atlas was going to take up formerly rejected line 1437 (RC573) again instead. Doesn't look good for that to happen now.

B1 of sorts

Line 1434 (RC001) 9K-GAA, the recently repainted BBJ for the State of Kuwait, is up in the air for the first time since the new livery. This frame was the first 747-8I test frame (so it's been in the air many times before, in the 747-8I orange and red sunrise livery), and should be ready for delivery by the end of the month. (Photo by royalscottking)

Speaking of deliveries, the flight line is getting mighty crowded with not only 787s but 747s. There are a bunch of 747s due for delivery over the next few weeks though; six exactly. Line 1430 for ABC, line 1434 for Kuwait, line 1456 for Lufthansa, line 1459 for BBJ, and lines 1464 and 1465 for Cathay and Cargolux respectively, should all be delivered by the middle of November. Filling in those six vacancies through November will probably be three frames: lines 1467 and 1468 for Atlas and BBJ, and line 1422 for Nippon Cargo which has been going through test flights after refurbishment at Lackland AFB and will probably be returned to Everett when space clears up.

Nice stripes

RC001 is out of the paint hanger in full State of Kuwait livery. Looking very "presidential", and much less red and orange. And here I was expecting boring white. Thanks to Matt Cawby.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/microvolt/8052113776/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/microvolt/8052203161/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/microvolt/8052154219/

Update: Just hit a thousand blog views. Takin' over the world, Baby!

Welcome back, Number One

Line 1420 (RC501) LX-VCA is headed back from Lackland Airforce Base in San Antonio to Paine Field. This frame was the first 747-8 test aircraft. It recently went on a couple test flights so there was suspicion that it was getting close to being completed after undergoing a leisurely refurbishment in Texas. I'd guess that the next step will be a trip to the paint hanger before a hand off to Cargolux, but we'll see. After all this is Boeing and Cargolux we're talking about, and just look at all the drama currently going on in 787 land. Anyway it's always good to see progress on getting these older frames out the door.

Line 1456 for Lufthansa has gone on a B2 flight, and line 1462 finally left on a delivery flight to Atlas after some mysterious delay (see my previous post). Line 1430 for AirBridgeCargo should be delivering any day now. I'm also looking forward to seeing line 1434 coming out of the paint hanger, although on second thought she'll probably just be plain white, so that won't be too exciting. Oh well, you take what you can get in the slow moving world of 747-8 production.