The largest commercial airliner ever built by Boeing is finally in the hands of an airline customer.
Lufthansa took possession of its first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Tuesday at a delivery ceremony at Boeing's assembly line in Everett, Wash. The event came more than a year after Boeing first unveiled its biggest commercial aircraft to the public at the same spot.
"We are excited and thrilled to welcome the 747-8 Intercontinental to our fleet," Lufthansa German Airlines chief Carsten Spohr says in a release touting the delivery. "And our passengers will love the new interior, which includes our all-new full-flat business-class cabin."
Following the ceremony, Lufthansa flew the 747-8i to its Frankfurt base where it will be prepared for its inaugural passenger flight. That comes June 1 when the carrier will deploy the jet on its Frankfurt-Washington Dulles route.
Lufthansa currently has 20 Boeing 747-8s on order and expects to take delivery of five more in 2012.
The airline says it also will put the 747-8I on its routes from Germany to Los Angeles, Chicago O'Hare, New Delhi and Bangalore later this year.
As for Boeing, the significance of the 747-8I goes beyond simply giving the jetmaker its biggest-ever plane built for airline service. Australian Aviation writes "Boeing hopes (the updated 747) will spark demand for the newest generation of its iconic jumbo jet."
The Seattle Times adds "though the original 747 first flew more than 43 years ago, Nico Buchholz, Lufthansa's executive vice president in charge of fleet management, emphasized the plane's newness: A new wing and new engines make it more fuel efficient and quieter; a new 787-style interior provides a sense of space and light for passengers.
"It's even beyond up-to-date," Buchholz is quoted by the Times as saying at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "It's highly sophisticated."
Not everything is perfect, however.
Reuters writes "the head of Lufthansa fleet management said he is not happy with the weight of Boeing new 747-8 jumbo, but that will not restrict the use of the airline's newest aircraft."
"On all our in-service fleet, even those in our fleet 10 years, we are never happy with the weight situation, so we are always trying to reduce weight in order to save even more fuel," Buchholz is quoted as saying by Reuters.
Still, he indicated the airline is satisfied overall with the 747-8I.
"Certain things are better than Boeing promised," he added, according to Reuters. "When I look at all the elements combined as an aircraft, that's when I say the aircraft does what we want it do and does it the way we want it to do."
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Maani Sharma [ MBA Aviation ]
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