[Paleo Conservative]

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A Timely Stretch

Boeing believes the 747-8 will challenge the A380 for a piece of the ultra-large market.

Happy New Year!

[Paleo Conservative]

If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.

[nightdriver]

"For it is the engines designed for the 787 with significantly higher bypass ratios, 1:8.75 for the newly designated 747-8, that promise to give the 747 a real kick in performance."

I would be a bit sceptical about the engine being a GE. They have never been as reliable as the P&W.

The original 747 was designed to fly with engines that had a 6:1 bypass ratio and a static thrust of 44,000 lbf. The airplane's gross weight was originally 618,000 lbm if my memory serves.

I certainly wish them luck. The 747 was my baby when I worked at the Lazy-B.

[theBuckwheat]

>>He claims the 747-8 "will burn 13% less fuel per seat than a 416-seat 747-400 and 12% less than a 542-seat A380."<<

I wonder how many millions of tons of jet fuel this difference would amount to over the life-cycle of the aircraft in service. Where are the enviros on this issue? They should be picketing and boycotting Airbus and all airlines that use more fuel than they have to.

Enviros are all about "conservation" and lecturing us about the need to drive a more efficient car. A single jumbo jet uses a lot of fuel in a month. Yet the enviros are silent on the fuel used by jumbos. Why? Maybe it is because it would mean that a US company (Boeing) would benefit from such agitation. Excuse my cynicism while I watch the enviros agitate instead to block drilling in ANWR.

[RayChuang88]

I think right now these airlines are in line to buy the 747-8: British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways (unless Airbus can demonstrate 8,000 nautical mile still-air range at standard MTOW for the A380-800), Japan Airlines, and a few others.

The reason why British Airways and Japan Airlines favor the 747-8 over the A380-800 is the fact both airlines control a large fraction of the landing slots at their respective home airports (London Heathrow and Tokyo Narita), so there is no pressure to buy as big a plane as possible.

[VOA]

If It Ain't Boeing...
I ain't going!

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Happy New Year Paleo.
If it ain't Boeing , I ain't going.