Boeing Expects Passenger Version of 747-8 to Fly in Early Spring

Boeing Co. aims for the passenger version of the delayed 747-8 jumbo jet shown to customers and investors today to fly for the first time in early spring in the U.S., a little more than a year after the freighter variant.

The biggest jumbo jet Boeing has manufactured, the 747-8 is about a year behind schedule, and first delivery is scheduled late this year, said Elizabeth Lund, deputy program manager.

The fifth variant of the 747, the Intercontinental was rolled out today from the same Everett, Washington, factory that manufactured the first version of the plane more than 40 years earlier. The newest version stretches the iconic hump and carries about 467 passengers in a typical three-class configuration, fewer than the usual 525 in the larger Airbus SAS A380.

“I have the confidence to say it will be early spring,” Lund said, referring to the first flight. “What we are learning in the freighter gives us confidence in terms of how the Intercontinental will perform.”

The Intercontinental’s flight testing will be shorter and use fewer planes its freighter sibling, Lund said. The freighter made its first flight in February 2010 and is scheduled for delivery in the middle of the year.

“Many of the tests that we are doing on our freighter will also give us credit on the Intercontinental,” Lund told reporters yesterday.

The Intercontinental’s flight tests should be complete in the fall of 2011, with regulatory certification and first delivery in the fourth quarter, Lund said. The first airline to get the plane will be Deutsche Lufthansa AG, whose representatives attended today’s presentation.

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Orders

The Intercontinental has 33 orders to date, with 20 of them from Lufthansa and five from Korean Air Lines Co.

Development of previous aircraft shows they sell well at launch, drop off while in production and flight testing then improve once the plane proves itself in the market, Lund said.

“We really do believe that this airplane is going to sell and it’s going to sell well,” she said.

The 747-8’s wingspan stretches more than 224 feet, about 13 feet longer than the earlier model, the 747-400. The aircraft is propelled by GEnx-2B67 engines, built by General Electric Co., which are made with about 30 percent fewer parts, reducing maintenance. The cruise speed is about Mach 0.86, or about 86 percent of the speed of sound.

source: http://www.bloomberg.com