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.