Rollouts, First Flights, 1500th 747 Incoming, and a New Customer?

Air China's first 747-8I, line 1499 (RC066) B-???? rolled out on the 8th of April. This is the first passenger Intercontinental for someone other than Lufthansa that you and I have a chance of flying in. I'm awaiting the terrible Air China livery being applied, but hoping for a surprise.

Line 1499, from a Matt Cawby flightline shot.

That means 1500 is right around the corner. I'm anticipating some sort of hoopla, and maybe even some news on new orders, but we'll see.

There's rumors going around that Centurion Air Cargo will be a 747-8F customer soon. They have plans of expanding their 747 fleet.

Lufthansa line 1498 (RC034) D-ABYO went up for a first flight and then a customer flight, and should deliver this month.

Missing 747-8s

Looking at Matt Cawby's latest flight line, there are two missing 747-8s at Paine Field. Silk Way line 1496 (RC642) 4K-SW882, and NCA line 1489 (RC528) JA18KZ. Line 1489 could either be in the paint hanger or stall 115 getting engines.

In March, we saw two deliveries. Lufthansa took line 1497 (RC033) D-ABYN, and Korean Air Cargo took line 1481 (RC548) HL7623. Line 1481 was a bit of an overdue delivery herself, having rolled out in May of 2013, only to sit around for six months.

Other than that, 747 activity at KPAE has been pretty slow. I suppose at 1.5 frames a month, it will most likely stay slow. The only really exciting thing right now is how eagerly Lufthansa is snapping up their frames. Talk over on airliners.net says the 747-8 is doing very well for them, performing better than advertised while making large improvements to the profitability of their routes.

The first 747-8I for Air China (line 1499!) should roll out really soon.

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.

Activity Update and 100K Views

Lufthansa took delivery of their 11th 747-8I on Friday, line 1494 (RC032) D-ABYM.

Thanks to Royal Scott King

One first flight for Silk Way Airlines second leased frame, line 1496 (RC642) 4K-SW882 went up unpainted and looks like she's being prepared for long term storage at Pinal Airpark.

Lufthansa line 1497 (RC033) D-ABYN rolled out to the flight line.

Lastly, you might have noticed the page view counter hitting 100,000 recently. I think that's pretty cool. If you haven't noticed, there's some great discussion, speculation, and updates going on in the comments section, and I appreciate every last one, as they help keep the chart and this blog apprised of all the latest rumors and news regarding the 747-8.

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.