Boeing Slows 747-8 Production Rate

I agree that the 747-8 does look rather good, in a sort of classic way. Coolness has never had anything to do with the age of a basic design, as any classic car owner will say. It just is.

If I could find roads wide enough, had a garage big enough, could be assured that something tangible would happen when I depressed the brake pedal, and I could afford the petrol to run a 7.7 litre V8 (8-10 mpg tops), I’d happily run a 1970 Cadillac as my everyday car for that reason.

No, only the 400, which I’m very fond of.

I’m not sure a new set of wings and engines is going to make as much difference to the actual flying experience as a clean-sheet design. The B747-8 seems akin to putting a state-of-the-art V8 engine in a 1970 Cadillac. The resultant car would have considerable merit, but it would still be a 1970 Cadillac.

That said, I’d love to try the B747-8. It’s just that with so few flying, it isn’t easy to do so.

I see where you are coming from. But the 747 is more than just a fuselage extension and new engines. It has a new wing, new interior sound proofing, all the toys you would expect on an A380 and more.
So far, LH pax are saying it is on par with the A380 in every way. Except (and admittedly this opinion comes from a plane freak!), it looks cooler 🙂

The storage in the desert of new 747’s is only temp and often done to delay import duty as the climate is tighter now than wen they ordered them

The same thing happened with some -200 and 400 BA and Air Canada were just two who sent aircraft initially straight into storage. In fact BA sold a couple of -200 to Malaysian and replaced those with new orders.

I doesn’t mean the end or even a wind down, as I mentioned above this is just one aeroplane per four months reduction. The 747-8I will never have a big market, it’s a long time ago now that the 747 was the main man for pax operations, but the 8F with it’s straight in nose loading should have a steady market for sometime as older aircraft are retired and need replacing

I don’t think we will see big order or fleets, but in a steady stream of small orders.

However it might be that the steady relatively low demand might in the future not suit Boeing if with an upturn they might feel the production space could be better used on another project.

So, maybe in the future Boeing might pull the plug.

It has had a remarkable production run, which viewed from the time it was originally designed is phenomenal.

***Thread drift on*** Mr Totty, you should try that app that Newforest uses to see how many times you have flown around the world ***Thread drift off ***

I just wonder how mankind is going to cope with the predicted population explosion because available airspace is filling up quickly. It also remains to be seen what proportion of the total population will be able to afford air travel and where. That will be the determining factor whether VLAs survive.

No, only the 400, which I’m very fond of.

I’m not sure a new set of wings and engines is going to make as much difference to the actual flying experience as a clean-sheet design. The B747-8 seems akin to putting a state-of-the-art V8 engine in a 1970 Cadillac. The resultant car would have considerable merit, but it would still be a 1970 Cadillac.

That said, I’d love to try the B747-8. It’s just that with so few flying, it isn’t easy to do so.

Have you even flown the 747-8 yet? :rolleyes:

I think the poor old B747-8 is on the slide, for sure.

The market for VLA’s is never going to be that large any more and what market there is has been cleaned up by the A380, which, as much as I love flying in the venerable old B747, must be a superior aircraft as a clean-sheet design rather than a rehash of a 1970 model.

Given the amount of 747Fs, including some -8Fs which have never been delivered, that are finding their way into the desert, i’d say the market for 747 freighters is on the slide as well…

-Dazza

I don’t see this as the beginning of the end of the 747, but of course as new designs get developed the 747 will become less and less competitive in many areas.

There is more of a demand for the freighters rather than the pax and this disparity will almost certainly widen over time.

The ‘soon to be launched’ 777-9x (allegedly), is due to have 400 passengers, so around the same size as the 744, that will kill off the 748! ( certainly the ‘I’), the question is whether the slump in 744 prices will do the same for the freighter!?

A reduction of one aircraft every four month the year after next. Hardly worth a mention really.

Just a production adjustment to better suit needs as Boeing says.

The aircraft is an expensive piece of kit to hold onto longer than needed on the line so one would only expect a sensible company to match production needs as close as possible.

I don’t see this as the beginning of the end of the 747, but of course as new designs get developed the 747 will become less and less competitive in many areas.

It’s done well and amazing that it is still in demand after so many years.

There is more of a demand for the freighters rather than the pax and this disparity will almost certainly widen over time.

Hoping the former…