After issuing a statement early last month that the 747-8 would still be pressing ahead, news then that Auckland-based Altitude Aerospace Industries had secured an order from a “major Northern Hemisphere carrier” (Lufthansa) for 20 new 747-8 Intercontinentals – dispels any notion that Boeing or Lufthansa plan to terminate either the program or indeed the outstanding order.
Altitude Aerospace Industries is the specialised interior arm of Air New Zealand, commissioned by Boeing to deliver “up to 40″ new interiors for the 747-8I.
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Lufthansa tells FleetBuzz Editorial.com that its order for the 747-8I remains “intact” and is the current sole customer for 20 firm 747-8I’s, due for delivery from 2011.
“Our appointment as an SFE (Supplier Furnished Equipment) supplier and to undertake this first customised contract for Boeing proves their faith in us,” says Altitude Aerospace Manager Michael Pervan.
Construction of the first 747-8F continues to progress with a preliminary target of August 2009 for its debut roll-out, followed by first flight in September.
I never doubted LH’s sincerity to the order, so it’s nice to see yet another sign that they intend to take their planes.
I sure hope this is a non cancellable vaildation of the order.
“I sure hope this is a non cancellable vaildation of the order.”
Wait for Keesje – he’ll cancel it in one fell swoop as he did with the 787-3.
“Wait for Keesje – he’ll cancel it in one fell swoop as he did with the 787-3.”
Lol..that was my first thought as well..
I am happy to see the B-747-8F and -8I programs are still on schedule. I believe there are some 28 orders for the B-747-8I, 20 for LH and 8 for the BBJ program.
LH still holds 20 more B-747-8I options, and have until 2013 to exercise them.
Currently, I believe there are some 105 total orders for the B-747-8, 28 for the “I” and 77 for the “F”. The B-747-8F/I program has sold about half of the total sales of the A-380-800, in 1/3 of the program time (3 years vs. 12 years). Keesje is not going to be happy.
With a possible future USAF order of 3 B-747-8Is to replace the current 2 VC-25As, and another 12-24 B-747-8Fs for the AL-1A program Including replacing the current YAL-1A prototype, a B-747-400F model). this program is beginning to take shape.
Additional future orders would come from current B-747-400/F/ER/ERF operators, including NH, JL, UA, DL (NW), BA, AF, QF, NZ, SQ, CX, UPS, LH, as well as others.
QF/SQ have ruled out the 747-8I too many times to recall.
Howver, the 747-8F (or 77f) would make very good sense at SQ.
Ed | March 24th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I do believe their schedule already slipped from H2 2010 to Q2 2011
ikkeman – I think/guess that Ed was referring to that revised schedule being on track rather than the previous one
isn’t the revised schedule on track by definition…
Oh no, there’s the short time between the admittance of a schedule slip and the implementation of a schedule revision…
Isn’t there any good Boeing news or bad Airbus news so this blog can see some updates?
…will update soon, been busy with other stuff
i love my boeing 747 400.800.