Boeing's orderbook keeps on growing.....

[Colonel Klink]

Lufthansa today confirmed an order for 20 new Boeing 747-8 jetliners plus purchase rights form another 20.This is the first of what I believe will be many orders for this type, and it comes on the back of a major year for orders for Boeing of the 787, 777 and 737. This is doubly interesting as Lufthansa is also an A380 customer, so are they just hedging their bets?
It must only be a matter of time before BA does the same and places an order for the 747-8, and maybe KLM, Virgin, Air France and others will follow. Many of the US carriers have yet to order replacements for their ageing 747 fleets, so perhaps that will start the ball rolling for Boeing, as sales of this type have been surprisingly slow to get going. Until now!

[akerosid]

It's a very interesting development - good news for Boeing, of course, but increases the pressure on Airbus very considerably, particularly for "new" airlines like BA and CX, comparing the two types; the earliest delivery dates available would not be greatly different and airlines that have 744s and those which have been stung by Airbus models which haven't met performance promises (like the A340-600 with CX) will no doubt find the 747-8I a very attractive prospect.

Although it's quite some time since the last pax 744 was delivered (to China Airlines of Taiwan in April 2005), the freighter line has been very healthy and of course, many 747-8Fs have already been ordered.

This development is going to make the large widebody order competition very much more interesting and let's be honest, it's great to see the dear old 747 have a new lease of life ...

[warmkiter]

thanks mr mayerhuber

another reason to stay on the 47

when are they going to deliver the first one?

[Carnage Matey!]

Originally Posted by akerosid

Although it's quite some time since the last pax 744 was delivered (to China Airlines of Taiwan in April 2005), the freighter line has been very healthy....

Really? There was a single aircraft going through the line when I was at the plant early this year, which is hardly healthy. It will be interesting to see if Lufty have bought the original 747-8 passenger design or have insisted on the longer 747-8F airframe with pax seating.

[Buckshot]

I guess that ends their quest to be an all-Airbus airline!

[vapilot2004]

End of 2006 sales year is Dec 31 (for Boeing):More orders in the pipeline

More details on Lufthansa and the Intercontinental from earlier post here

Originally Posted by Carnage Matey!

Really? There was a single aircraft going through the line when I was at the plant early this year, which is hardly healthy.

There were 12 744s delivered this year 8 Fs and 4 ERFs.

It will be interesting to see if Lufty have bought the original 747-8 passenger design or have insisted on the longer 747-8F airframe with pax seating

I think the longer version.

[Torquelink]

I think Boeing decided to go for the longer version despite 300 nm range reduction because most prospects preferred to have the extra seats (up to 3 class 479 with overhead cart stowage). Emirates won't be happy though - I think they said they needed the extra 300nm to do DUB - LAX?

I see LH also ordered six more A346s - a sop to Airbus or do they really like the aircraft?

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by Carnage Matey!

It will be interesting to see if Lufty have bought the original 747-8 passenger design or have insisted on the longer 747-8F airframe with pax seating.

Boeing got a generally lukewarm reaction from the passenger airlines to their proposed "only slightly longer" passenger 747-8 so are no longer offering this version. The passenger and freighter 747-8s will have the same (longer) fuselage length. The downside is a slight reduction in range compared with the originally proposed 747-8 version.

(Torquelink, I think Emirates were talking about Dubai, not Dublin, to LAX - don't want to start another rumour! )

[SailorOrion]

Originally Posted by Cyrano

Boeing got a generally lukewarm reaction from the passenger airlines to their proposed "only slightly longer" passenger 747-8 so are no longer offering this version. The passenger and freighter 747-8s will have the same (longer) fuselage length. The downside is a slight reduction in range compared with the originally proposed 747-8 version.

Actually the range is not reduced. The 747-8I was initially planned with 8000nm@450pax. Some early wind-tunnel tests showed that the range would be around 8300nm with the given config (what EK liked). Then came the new stretch (to the length of the F) which put the range back to the original 8000nm but @470pax.

SailorOrion

[Torquelink]

Oops - thanks Cyrano!

[akerosid]

I recall an article in Flight - see attached - where Boeing said it wasn't ruling out the possibility of a 747-8 version to the spec required by EK. Given that EK is a likely launch customer for the 787-10 as well, they certainly have an incentive; furthermore, there were indications that EK was not the only carrier interested in the shorter, long-haul version of the acft.

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/11/07/Navigation/179/210407/Boeing's+options+stretched+for+747-8I%2c+with+refusal+to+rule+out+two+sizes+of+aircraft%2c+to+m eet.html

[Magoodotcom]

Originally Posted by Colonel Klink

Many of the US carriers have yet to order replacements for their ageing 747 fleets, so perhaps that will start the ball rolling for Boeing, as sales of this type have been surprisingly slow to get going. Until now!

Like who? United and...

Magoo

[Wino]

American has almost 400 MD80s, 140 757s, and something like 100 767s, and 35 A300s (well 34 now) that are all coming due for replacement soon. The only planes not in that category are about 60 737s and 45 777s.... Also they recently parked 75 F100s and have not yet found a replacement for those.

Cheers
Wino

[Magoodotcom]

Wino

Yeah, I know that, but the comment was about replacing...

many of the US carriers... 747

...fleets.

I thought United was the only one who still flew 74s, and perhaps Northwest?

Magoo

[Wino]

Yeah, United, Northwest and UPS