After the highly successful 747-400 series, Boeing announced a new generation of the Queen of the Skies in 2005, the Boeing 747-8. The aircraft came in two variants. A freighter version, the 747-8F, and a passenger one, the 8 Intercontinental, or 747-8I for short.
Which airlines have bought the passenger variant, and do they operate them today? Let’s Talk Aviation!
When Boeing announced the new version of their 747, the main competitor, the Airbus A380 was not yet in the air and many airlines were looking to buy new jumbo jets. The last update for the 747 was already more than a decade ago. While the updated plane had many similarities with the previous generation, it got some major upgrades. The interior was designed to be like that of the 787 Dreamliner. Additionally, the upper deck was stretched to allow for an additional 34 seats.
Slow Sales
However, despite these efforts, orders for the updated 747 were mainly for the freighter version. Airlines like Emirates and British Airways did very well consider placing an order for the new jumbo jet. However, they went with the A380 and Dreamliner instead. In total, 47 747-8I would be ordered compared to 251 A380s. Although half of those orders were by Emirates the A380 is the major winner here when we just compare the 747-8I to the A380.
Even though Boeing didn’t expect record-breaking sales for their new iteration of the jumbo jet, the sales were way lower than the expected 150. While it is hard to say what the reasons were for the low sales, there are many contributing factors. First, during the launch of the program, the aviation industry was shifting towards more efficient twin-engine aircraft, like the A350, 787, and yet to be launched 777X. Planes no longer needed three or four engines to qualify for the desired ETOPS ratings. And flying with two engines meant lower operating costs.
Comparison with the A380
Boeing was not the only one to be affected by this shift in the market. In 2006, Airbus predicted that it would sell 751 A380. Three times the number they would eventually sell, and they needed to sell 420 to even break even. It just looks like the four-engine jumbo jets are the plane of the previous century and that the business case is just not viable anymore in the 21st century.
Likely, Boeing did already anticipate this market change by focussing on the freighter version instead. While the sales of the freighter are also below expectation, 100 vs 150, the plane is still a worthy successor to the highly successful previous generations of the 747 freighter.
So, which airlines do operate the 747-8I? In total, there are three, Korean Air, Lufthansa, and Air China. Some more 747s will function as private jets and two will replace the aging presidential plane for the United States, becoming the new Air Force One.
Korean
First, Korean Air. They have a total of 10 747-8Is and 7 freighters. This makes them the only airline to operate both the passenger and freight version of the 747-8. They ordered their first five in December of 2009 and expanded it to ten in 2013. When they received their first plane, their Vice President praised the plane’s fuel efficiency and passenger comfort. Talking about passengers, the 747-8I has 368 seats of which most are economy.
While Korean Air does not operate the latest 747 for that long, plans for their retirement have already been put in place. In ten years, there will be no quad jet aircraft left in their fleet. First, the A380 will be retired. Later, the 747-8I will be retired in favor of the 777-300ER – and possibly 777-9 – and 787 Dreamliner.
Lufthansa
While there are not many, Korean Air is not the only operator of the newest Queen of the Skies. The German airline Lufthansa has 19 and is the largest operator of the type. They were the first to order the passenger version of the aircraft. Later, on December 6 of 2006, they placed an order for 20 with options for 20 more.
Lufthansa ordered the aircraft as a direct replacement for their older 747-400s. Just like Korean Air, they spoke about the higher fuel efficiency and updated interior as main reasons for choosing the aircraft.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Lufthansa parked all their jumbo jets, including the 747-8I, but with demand coming back slowly but steadily over the past few months, almost all are back in the air again and are likely to stay in the air for the foreseeable future. Unlike Korean, Lufthansa will keep flying with the 747-8 into the next decade. Instead, partly to reduce the number of different long-haul aircraft, they will retire the A340, A380, 747-400, 777-200 among others shifting their focus to newer more efficient aircraft like the 747-8, 777X, and Dreamliner.
Air China
The third and final airline which uses the 747-8I is Air China. They were the last to order the type and bought 7 back in 2012 which also makes them the smallest operator of the 747-8I. Like Korean Air and Lufthansa, Air China uses a configuration with mostly economy seats and a mix of premium economy, business, and first-class to get to 365 seats.
Of the seven aircraft, one is in use for VIP transport and the other six, delivered in 2014 and 2015 are still operating. Unfortunately, Air China did not publicly talk about their future plans for the type, but since the aircraft are quite young, they will likely remain in the air for the foreseeable future.
The Boeing 747-8 can be seen as the afterthought of the 747 family. However, despite their low sales, I think the -8 played an important role in the Boeing line-up. With the competition from Airbus with the A380 and the 747-4 in need of an update, it was the only logical move for Boeing to make. Because of their highly successful 747 programs, it would not have been very expansive to create an updated version of the existing 747 and most infrastructure to produce the plane was already present. For sure compared to Airbus which had to create the A380 program from scratch and set up a whole new production line for the double-decker.