Seeing Red

There's new red on the chart with more to come, frustratingly for us 747-8 watchers. Line 1478 (RC509) LX-VCI for Cargolux is going to sit in the desert for a stretch before being delivered, alongside two other new 747-8s and one new 747-400 (that's been there way too long!). In the near future, up to seven more frames will join them, with ABC, NCA, and Korean all electing to defer their upcoming frames.

There were no more 747-8 orders out of Paris, but I'm savoring the five that Korean Airlines announced. Hopefully later in the year some of these other rumored orders will manifest themselves.

Various

D-ABYI went for her first revenue flight today (that link will only work for about four months after this post). Welcome to the working world "I", may your career last 120,000 hours or more. She's at about 30 hours as of this post; 119,970 to go.

Three frames were up today for test flights: Nippon Cargo line 1479, Cargolux line 1478, and Unclaimed line 1437. Unclaimed is sure hanging around Paine Field for a long time. I'd think she'd be in storage by now. Hopefully that means they're finding her a home...?

An article here has some more detail on 747-8 improvements. A lot we might have heard before. 747 program v-p and general manager Eric Lindblad says that current frames are 5,600 pounds lighter than those originally delivered, and Boeing has identified ways to drop another 1,600 pounds; in all, the savings contribute some 2 percent to operating efficiency. He also says he'd like the total weight loss to reach 10,000 pounds, and perhaps increase the -8I’s range to 8,200 nm, by around 2016. The article also acknowledges that all unfinished frames have been refurbished, so the 747 build team can get back to focusing on building new frames. Well, I guess there's still line 1435.

Come on Paris, give us another 747-8 order!

Korean Wants Five More 747-8Is

Today in Paris, Korean Air and Boeing announced that they've signed a purchase commitment for another five 747-8Is. This is a top up order, as they'd already ordered five, so now they'll have a total of ten. This is great news, as Korean Air has always been a big 747 customer, and it looks like that will continue for a few decades.

Here's the press release.

NCA Line 1479 First Flight

Line 1479 (RC525) JA15KZ for Nippon Cargo Airlines had a first flight today. This frame is either preparing for delivery or storage. Nippon Cargo has 14 747-8Fs ordered, two of which are already in service. Six more are built or scheduled to be built. NCA plans on taking three frames in the latter half of this year, and then three more next year. That leaves six frames left in the order which have yet to be scheduled for assembly. Due to deferment, one frame, line 1469 (RC524) JA14KZ, sits in storage in the desert. One frame, test frame 2, line 1421 (RC521) JA11KZ, is on the flight line needing a repaint. My prediction is that they'll take lines 1421, 1469, and 1479 this year, and the next three scheduled to be built will move into storage until they're delivered next year. The remaining six will probably be built in 2014/2015 and delivered in 2015/2016.

While taxiing, a giant spider attacks KPAE

787 Line 111 G-ZBJB for British Airways gets ready to fly while JA15KZ prepares for a taxi test.

G-ZBJB takes off, JA15KZ moves into position

Pending deliveries

Line 1432 (RC572) HZ-AI4 for Saudi Arabian Cargo just went up for a C2 flight, and should deliver any day now.

Lines 1477 (Lufthansa) and 1478 (Cargolux) should both soon be conducting final customer flights too. Other than those two, 748 action has been slow recently. I'm hoping rumors are true and some exciting news comes from the Paris Air Show next week.