EVERETT —Air France executives thanked Boeing Co. workers for their efforts Wednesday as the airline took delivery of two 747s at Paine Field.
"I know it was very challenging to deliver these two airplanes at the same time," said Pierre Vellay, a senior vice president for Air France.
It was a rare double delivery of 747s — only the sixth since Boeing delivered the first 747-400 in 1989.
Air France acquired a 747-400 passenger plane and a 747-400ERF extended-range cargo plane. It is leasing both from International Lease Finance Corp.
Air France is International Lease Finance’s No. 1 customer, and operates almost a third of the 747s in the company’s portfolio, said Steve Adams, an International Lease Finance vice president.
Getting the seats installed in the passenger plane in time for Wednesday’s delivery was a challenge, said Jack Jones, director of Everett flight line operations for Boeing.
The plane has a new interior design, including complicated new business-class seats that have a high level of electronics related to new entertainment systems. They also fold down into beds.
The new seats are "definitely high-end," he said, but the manufacturer couldn’t deliver them in time to meet the normal production schedule. That meant getting creative and working out of the normal production sequence to get the seats installed, Jones said.
Air France is an important Boeing customer, with 108 Boeing planes in its fleet, said Dan Becker, Boeing’s vice president in charge of the 747, 767 and 777 programs.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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