Spacious & Luminous

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental conducts successful first flight

Thousands of people including customers, employees, suppliers and community leaders gathered to witness the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental take off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, on March 20. The airplane landed four hours and 25 minutes later at Boeing Field in Seattle. The 747-8 Intercontinental’s successful first flight marks the beginning of a flight test programme that will finish in the fourth quarter.

With 747 Chief Pilot Mark Feuerstein and Captain Paul Stemer at the controls, the newest member of the 747 family took off at 9:59 a.m. and landed at 2:24 p.m. local time. The airplane followed a route over Eastern Washington, where it underwent tests for basic handling and performance. The airplane reached a cruising altitude of 19,000 feet (5,791 metres), and a speed of up to 250 knots, or about 288 miles per hour (463 kilometres).

The 747-8 Intercontinental will have the lowest seat-mile cost of any large commercial jetliner, with 12 per cent lower costs than its predecessor, the 747-400. The airplane provides 16 per cent better fuel economy, 16 per cent less carbon emissions per passenger and generates a 30 per cent smaller noise footprint than the 747-400. The 747-8 Intercontinental applies interior features from the 787 Dreamliner that includes a new curved, upswept architecture giving passengers a greater feeling of space and comfort, while adding more room for personal belongings.