Fuel Burn
 

Prompted by the news that MK is flying again..........What is the difference in fuel burn for the 747 - 200 v 400?

Im not a cargo expert but say 40,000 kg of freight over 5000 miles for the flight

Depends whether empty or full.

Full
B744F 3400usg/hr
B742F 4200usg/hr

Empty
B744F 2700usg/hr
B742F 3000usg/hr

So, at USD4/usg that means USD3,200 per hour more for the older bird full and USD1,200 p/h empty. That's about USD0.25 per kg more expensive on a typical one-way mission....

Basically, the cost of ownership of B742F now needs to be minimal, loads and yields need to be good, otherwise it don't work..... that means only a few routes are viable, such as those Kalitta US Mail contracts and a few African routes...

I recall (although from hazy memory) of noting the figures of each from two flight plans. Each had approximately the same payload.

B-744 / ANC / ICN burn was 87,000kgs . . .
B-742 / ANC / ICN burn was 106,000 kgs .

Average 13% less burn at comparable payloads and sector lengths. However, there are variations by engine models. The three-spool Rollers typically burn less than the two-spool Pratts and GEs.

With 40t over 5000nm it does not matter how much you burn. You go bust due to missing revenue...!

Fuel Burn
 

Good infomation.

Anyone know how much better the 747-8Fs will be??

Thanks

Thanks for the replies.......I just grabbed figures out of the air to get some idea of the difference

The classics are beer cans at $140 oil. The 400s are about 17% more efficient. On a 400 freighter conversion, there's about a 2% efficiency penalty over a purpose built freighter . . . which is a lot over the long haul.