Air China 747-8I to New York Started Today

Today, Air China flew its inaugural 747-8I flight to JFK airport in New York City as flights CA981 and CA982. This is the first regularly scheduled international passenger service on a 747-8I not run by Lufthansa. Line 1507 RC067 B-2486 got to do the initial run. This 13 hour flight is scheduled daily, and soon to join in on the international action will be daily service to San Francisco, scheduled to start mid year. The article linked above also states Los Angeles starts in March, but I'm not sure if that's accurate or not. I hope it is!

B-2486 arriving at JFK. Photo by cv880m.

Also, line 1487 RC527 JA17KZ flew off to Tokyo today. This frame actually delivered contractually in December 2014. There are now no undelivered NCA frames lying around in storage. First time in a long time that can be said! There are, however, six still on order, none of which have been assigned slots in the firing order yet.

Deliveries Remaining for 2014

With the delivery of line 1489 RC528 JA18KZ to Nippon Cargo (just over a year after roll out!), that brings the total delivery count for 2014 to a meager 14. Here's what to expect for the remainder of the year:

• Line 1485 JA16KZ should deliver to NCA in late November
• Line 1487 JA17KZ should deliver to NCA in late December
• Line 1507 B-2486 should deliver to Air China in November
• Line 1508 B-2487 should deliver to Air China in December

Which will bring the total delivery count for 2014 to 18 frames; the current manufacturing rate. It's possible a couple more might slip in before 2014 ends, but unlikely.

In other news, a very exciting one year birthday is fast approaching... who could it be? :O