Boeing's next-gen 747-8 Intercontinental unveiled

**plasty** · 02-14-11 at 07:02 AM

Boeing formally unveiled its 747-8 Intercontinental at a ceremony at its giant assembly plant here Sunday.
The new plane features a new color scheme for Boeing: red, orange, and white.
The plane is said to fly longer and faster, and to offer carriers better cost per seat mile and better fuel efficiency than any other plane.

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**Gogomonkeygo** · 02-14-11 at 10:56 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by chesire

Doesn't look much different than the old one, maybe they made it more efficient so it doesn't cost the flier so much.

It's the longest passenger aircraft at 76m

**Noledox** · 02-15-11 at 12:02 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by chesire

Doesn't look much different than the old one, maybe they made it more efficient so it doesn't cost the flier so much.

You should see the original 747, back when the jet engines were much smaller. The original 747-100 had 45800lbf of thrust per engine (4 engines), while the new 747-8 has perhaps (Wikipedia doesn't list for this model yet) 72000lbf of thrust per engine (still 4 engines).

**Noledox** · 02-15-11 at 12:52 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by chesire

That just translates to poorer fuel economy. These are freight and passenger jets.

Supposedly, they've got better fuel economy than the older engines; the only reason they need more thrust is because the loaded planes are quite a bit heavier. The news report I saw was saying that Boeing was unveiling a passenger version of the 747-8 with an upper deck extending most of the length of the fuselage, which has a correspondingly large increase in passenger capacity. I see Wikipedia says the 747-400 holds up to 416 passengers in 3-class configuration, while the 747-8 can hold up to 467 in the same config. Also, the range increased from 7260 nautical miles to 8000.

02-14-11 at 10:56 AM	#2
Gogomonkeygo LargeHard Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe Posts: 895	Quote: Originally Posted by chesire Doesn't look much different than the old one, maybe they made it more efficient so it doesn't cost the flier so much. It's the longest passenger aircraft at 76m

02-15-11 at 12:02 AM	#3
Noledox Bad command or file name Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Terra Incognita Posts: 2,709	Quote: Originally Posted by chesire Doesn't look much different than the old one, maybe they made it more efficient so it doesn't cost the flier so much. You should see the original 747, back when the jet engines were much smaller. The original 747-100 had 45800lbf of thrust per engine (4 engines), while the new 747-8 has perhaps (Wikipedia doesn't list for this model yet) 72000lbf of thrust per engine (still 4 engines).

02-15-11 at 12:52 PM	#4
Noledox Bad command or file name Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Terra Incognita Posts: 2,709	Quote: Originally Posted by chesire That just translates to poorer fuel economy. These are freight and passenger jets. Supposedly, they've got better fuel economy than the older engines; the only reason they need more thrust is because the loaded planes are quite a bit heavier. The news report I saw was saying that Boeing was unveiling a passenger version of the 747-8 with an upper deck extending most of the length of the fuselage, which has a correspondingly large increase in passenger capacity. I see Wikipedia says the 747-400 holds up to 416 passengers in 3-class configuration, while the 747-8 can hold up to 467 in the same config. Also, the range increased from 7260 nautical miles to 8000.