Originally Posted by
megan
td, to what extent are airframe bits held as spares for out of production types, say if an operator suddenly needs a wing plank for some reason, can see why it might be a build to order.
I don't think they keep much in the way of major structural pieces available as spares. When the aircraft is still in production, it's pretty straight forward to simply make another bit - but once OOP the tooling and such is all gone. If someone needs sort of major structural part, the options are to have one custom made, get a 'used' part from a scraped aircraft, or to simply scrap the damaged aircraft.
Originally Posted by
SaulGoodman
Boeing made the decision to close the production line already before covid in order to open up other production lines. I’m sure that if they would have been able to keep it open they would in the current cargo market. Were it not that the suppliers have also changed to work on parts for newer aircraft.
These -8F’s have to work for the next 30 years as there is no other nose loading capacity. The AN’s are very old and the C17’s are too limited in paylod and too expensive imo.
Boeing's biggest problem with the 747-8F was competing against retired 747-400 freighter conversions - freight operators could buy a passenger 747-400 for a song and convert it into a freighter for a small fraction of what a new 747-8F cost. Eventually most of those 747-400s would have aged out, but the 747 airframe is easily good for well over 100,000 hours (especially if it's mainly used for long haul so the cycles are relatively low) so that would have taken a long time.
I think Boeing needed to be building 747s at a rate of at least one/month for it to be profitable - and the 747 wasn't there since about 2018 (six/year - which is at best breakeven). The final nail was when the vendor that made the fuselage panels shut down the factory where they made them (the last few years of 747 production have used panels that were 'built ahead' before they shutdown the facility). While Boeing was offered the tooling and such, to continue production would have required a major investment in setting it all in a new facility Boeing couldn't justify the expense - especially with a one/month production rate or less.
Although I do keep hearing about a story I heard when they ended 747-400 production to prepare for the 747-8. It seems Boeing had a bunch of open production slots for the 747-400 prior to the shutdown that they wanted to fill, so they went out and offered a good price on 'last time buy' for 747-400F. Well, the response was overwhelming - reportedly they could have sold many, many more if they'd had production slots. I have to wonder if, now that no more new 747s will be build, freight operators will suddenly wish they'd bought a whole bunch more.
BTW, Boeing did look at a commercial variant to the C-17. Apparently the interest was rather underwhelming, and the costs associated with certifying to Part 25 would have been massive, so the idea was dropped.