Boeing unveils new 747

Boeing Co unveiled the latest passenger version of its 747 jumbo jet, hoping to win orders for a model that for now has only two airline customers, reported the Wall Street Journal.


About 10,000 workers, guests and members of the news media attended a ceremony on Sunday at the company's wide-body jet factory in Everett, Washington.


The new plane, the 747-8 Intercontinental, boasts a red, orange and white, striped paint scheme and is scheduled to make its first flight in the spring. At 250 feet long, it is roughly 18 feet longer than its predecessor, the 747-400. First deliveries of the new plane, Boeing's largest-ever passenger jet, are expected sometime in the fall.


"We've gone through a few struggles getting here," James Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing's commercial-airplanes division, said at the ceremony. "But this is an airplane that's going to change the world once again."


The new jet and its 747-8 freighter sibling are running two years behind schedule, beset by design, production and flight-test issues. There are 74 orders for the freighter, which is undergoing test flights. The first 747-8 freighter is expected to be delivered midyear.


Boeing has secured just 33 firm orders for the 747-8 Intercontinental, from Lufthansa, Korean Air Lines and a handful of unidentified business-jet customers. Yet Boeing executives have expressed confidence that sales will pick up once customers see the first models in flight. Lufthansa has said it will configure the jet for 386 passengers, with the carrier's first one entering service early next year.


Boeing executives have said the plane is designed to fill the gap between the company's popular 777 and the double-decker A380 from European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co's Airbus division.


Originally slated as a simple update of the 747-400, which entered service in 1989, the latest 747 now is more than 85 percent new, according to the company. The plane sports a new wing and cockpit avionics, as well as increased use of composite materials, a larger upper deck and the same type of General Electric Co. engines Boeing is offering on its new 787 Dreamliner.


But Boeing ran into serious problems with the 747-8, development of which started in 2005. When the company hit major snags on the marquee Dreamliner programme, engineers were relocated from the 747 programme to shore up the Dreamliner. A two-month strike by factory workers in late 2008 also slowed development, as did frequent changes in the programme's top management.


During flight tests of the 747-8 freighter last year, Boeing encountered problems with the aerodynamics around the landing gear doors and various wing flap settings. Those issues required rework and retesting that continues.


Chicago-based Boeing took a US$1 billion charge on the programme in 2009 and has said it is unclear when or if the plane will ever be profitable.


Albaugh has said that many potential customers remain on the sidelines as they wait to see the outcome of those changes and how the planes perform once certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.


Tim Clark, president of Dubai-based Emirates airline, told a trade publication last week that he thinks sales of the new 747 have been lacklustre because Boeing offers a more competitive product with the extended range version of its popular 777-300.


Emirates, the Mideast's largest airline, operates 15 Airbus A380s and 53 777-300ERs, and has 49 on order. Clark told Flight International magazine that Emirates seats 420 passengers on the twin-engine 777 and doubts it can get many more passengers on a four-engine 747-8.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)