Newer aircraft are less costly to maintain, fuel, fly
From the Chicago Business Journal
United Airlines’ Boeing 747, a.k.a. the Queen of the Skies, is getting what increasingly looks to be the biggest, longest and most emotional send-off ever accorded a commercial aircraft being retired from service.
Given the plane’s considerable heft, to say nothing of its storied history, what else could one have expected?
The Queen’s final international flight is scheduled from Seoul to San Francisco later this month, to be followed by a final festive commercial domestic flight with all the retro trimmings from San Francisco to Honolulu in early November.
But last Sunday, Oct. 9, the United Boeing 747 farewell was a distinctly family affair. And all the more emotional because it was all family.
More than 16,000 United employees and their family members descended on United’s Maintenance Center at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) for the carrier’s annual Family Day. That SFO Maintenance Center has been a centerpiece of United’s maintenance work for decades, and it has attended to scores of United 747s over the years.
So it was a fitting site for United family to say their goodbyes, and say those goodbyes, they did.
According to reports from the event, some attendees waited for an hour or more to go inside one of two United 747s parked at the maintenance center. Once inside, they had free rein to explore the main cabin and iconic upper deck and pose for photos in the cockpit. United pilots and flight attendants were positioned in both 747s to answer questions and reminisce with United family members about the beloved Queen of the Skies.
One of the two 747s sported an especially nostalgic livery — the “Friend Ship” lettering resembling that livery of United’s first 747 delivered in 1970.
Before the United family said goodbye last Sunday, the Queen of the Skies also participated on Saturday in the annual San Francisco Fleet Week Air Show, where huge crowds watched — no doubt with a tear or two in their eyes — as the United 747 made several low passes over the scenic city with the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island in the background. Surely no Queen ever working in the United States has ever had a grander send-off.
From USA Today June 2014
Boeing’s 1,500th 747: ‘Not your mother’s jumbo jet’
Boeing’s 1,500th 747: Behind the scenes at the 747 factory, June 2014
EVERETT, Wash. — Boeing’s iconic 747 hits a major milestone this weekend when German carrier Lufthansa flies away with the 1,500th 747 ever produced.
The delivery continues a remarkable run for the airplane, which has been in production since 1968. It was the world’s first jumbo jet and the new ultra-long routes it could fly helped reshape global air travel.
“It’s the most recognizable aircraft produced today,” says Eric Lindblad, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s 747 program. “Fifteen-hundred 747s is a huge number, especially for an airplane this size. To partner with Lufthansa, to send them this airplane, is really something special.”
But the milestone comes as some industry observers suggest that the aircraft is near the end of its run as demand for four-engine jumbo jets wanes.
PHOTOS: Behind the scenes at the 747 factory ahead of the 1,500th delivery
Indeed, the number of 747s coming off Boeing’s production line north of Seattle is just 1.5 per month — down from about 6 per month in 1990. And airlines that have older 747s in their fleets are phasing out the planes at an increasingly brisk clip.
Airlines show an increasing preference for two-engine widebody jets — like the Airbus A330 and Boeing’s own 777 — that seat fewer people, but burn less fuel and can fly comparable distances.
Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Virginia-based Teal Group, says the 747 “has two more turbines to carry around,” making its higher capacity an “expensive block of seats to carry around.”
In terms of future demand, only three other passenger airlines beside Lufthansa — Korean Air, Air China and Russian carrier Transaero — currently have orders in for new 747s. And while cargo has historically been a strength for the 747, orders for Boeing’s freighter versions also have slowed amid a global slump in cargo demand.
Milestone: The 1,500th Boeing 747
Boeing’s Lindblad pushes back against any pessimism regarding the 747’s long-term outlook.
He notes the company is fresh off a major redesign of the 747 that resulted in the current iteration of the jet — a thoroughly modern 747 that’s also the biggest passenger jet ever made by Boeing.
“This is not your mother’s 747,” Lindblad says about Boeing’s update to the 747-400 — the company’s previous variant.
The first cargo version of the modernized 747 — the 747-8F — was delivered to launch customer Cargolux in 2011. The first new passenger version — dubbed the 747-8 Intercontinental — began flying for Lufthansa in 2012.
The “dash-8” is about 18 feet longer than the 747-400, and the passenger version comes with about 50 more seats in a typical layout.
More importantly, Lindblad says, are the jet’s technology upgrades — many borrowed from Boeing’s new-age 787 Dreamliner. Those updates, he says, have made the 747-8 a state-of-the art aircraft with improved reliability and lower operating costs for airlines that buy it.
ARCHIVES: Boeing goes long with new 747-8 jet
“The 747 is advanced technology when it comes to the wing, the engine, the flight deck — and it has the new interior in it as well,” Lindblad says.
“The 747 is the most-reliable four-engine aircraft made today,” he adds.
But those four engines are one reason industry analysts are concerned.
Boeing, however, says the 747’s numbers work.
Lindblad suggests airline customers are willing to pay more to fly on the 747, a “flagship” aircraft product perfect for “making a premium experience for high-yield customers.”
He says, “It’s not entirely about seat count. I think you have to look at the overall yields.”
Lindblad points to the 747’s signature hump, and the opportunity it provides for airlines to create an upper-deck first- or business-class cabin that feels exclusive because of its location relative to the rest of the plane.
“People relish the opportunity to be there,” he says. “It’s a space all by itself. …. And the same thing goes for forward of the entry door,” an area most airlines use for first- or business-class cabins.
But can Boeing turn all of that into more orders for the jet?
“There is still a fair amount of interest” from airlines, Lindblad says. “Enough that we’re going to sit here today and say we expect we’re going to be building the 747-8 for quite a bit longer.”
Aboulafia doesn’t see it that way. He says he thinks “it’s highly unlikely” that the 747 stays in production beyond the next decade.
“If we get back to the cargo numbers we’ve seen for several decades, it is possible,” he adds.
However, Aboulafia says he’s pulling for the 747, even admitting he’s “part of the club” that “loves the upper deck of the 747.”
He says, “I would love to be proven wrong about the 747. It’s a beautiful plane and it’s an icon. It’s the only word for it. Iconic.”
