I've heard EFA have been looking into the 748F. The Atlas contract is due to expire.
Boeing Reels from 747-8 Rejection (excerpt)
(Source: Gulf News; published Sept. 18, 2011)
SEATTLE --- Boeing Co. had to postpone this week's inaugural delivery of the 747-8 freighter, a jet already two years behind schedule, after its initial customer refused to accept the first two planes.
Boeing had to cancel three days' ceremonies on Saturday because of "unresolved issues" with Cargolux Airlines International, said spokesman Jim Proulx.
The carrier was scheduled to fly its first load of freight on the new plane out of Seattle on September 19 and take delivery of a second jet two days later.
Proulx declined to comment on the reason for the dispute, and Cargolux would only say that there had been "contractual issues" that compelled its board, which met on Saturday, to reject the planes.
The clash mars the arrival of the newest and biggest version of the jumbo jet that, with its iconic hump, has been Boeing's marquis model since its inception in the 1960s. It also comes after numerous struggles at the company, including a three-year setback to its 787 Dreamliner, inroads into its customer base by Airbus and a shift in its new-jet strategy.
"It's horrendous," Ken Herbert, an analyst with Wedbush Securities in San Francisco, said in an interview. "Just when you finally thought they were going to turn the corner, this happens."
* maybe EFA could pick up a couple of Cargolux's rejects...
