Boeing launches a new 747

EVERETT – The jet that brought the Boeing Co. to Everett in 1966 is about to serve a brand new generation.

The company announced early this morning that two cargo airlines – Luxembourg-based Cargolux and Nippon Cargo Airlines of Japan – have ordered a total of 18 747-8s, the plane Boeing till now had called the 747 Advanced.

With those orders in place, Boeing formally announced its launch of the program.

Cargolux will get the first of its 10 planes in the third quarter of 2009. Nippon Cargo will get the first of eight planes in 2009’s fourth quarter.

Boeing’s proposed 21st century jumbo jet:

* Incorporates the engines and other systems being developed for the 787.

* Stretches the latest-model 747 to carry another 35 passengers. Along with the upper-deck seating on current 747s, one option being offered to airlines creates “Sky Suites” – luxury bunks – in the space above the main deck.

* Has an estimated range of more than 9,000 miles.

History of the 747

Spring 1963: Boeing Co. forms a work group to start designing a proposed new large airplane.

March 1966: Boeing board of directors OKs proposed 747.

April 13, 1966: Pan American World Airways places the launch order for 25 747s.

June 1966: Boeing buys 780 acres in Everett to build a new 747 factory.

Jan. 3, 1967: First workers arrive at the Everett plant.

Sept. 30, 1968: First 747-100, christened the “City of Everett,” rolls out of the factory.

Feb. 9, 1969: First flight of the 747-100.

Jan. 21, 1970: Pan Am carries passengers on its first 747 flight between New York and London.

June 1971: First 747-200 enters service with KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines.

Feb. 17, 1981: Boeing delivers 500th 747 to Scandinavian Airlines System.

March 23, 1983: First 747-300 enters service with Swissair.

June 5, 1986: U.S. Air Force orders two modified 747-200s to transport the president of the United States; when the president’s onboard, they’re called “Air Force One.”

Feb. 9, 1989: The first 747-400, the current production model, enters service with Northwest Airlines.

Oct 12, 1993: Boeing delivers the 1,000th 747, a 747-400 passenger jet, to Singapore Airlines.

Nov. 15, 1999: U.S. Postal Service unveils a 747 postage stamp; a copy is placed on an Everett factory door where it remained until it was replaced last month.

October 2002: Boeing delivers the first extended-range 747-400ERs, a freighter to Air France and a passenger jet to Qantas Airways.

The combined orders are worth about $5 billion at list prices, however, analysts say airlines have been negotiating discounts of 25 percent or more.

The new plane is a 21st century update of the jumbo jet built by “the Incredibles” a group of workers who built the biggest commercial jet inside the biggest industrial building faster than anyone believed possible.

The new 747-8 will incorporate the engines being developed for Boeing’s new 787, along with many of the Dreamliner’s electronics and other systems.

“It’s a very good idea,” said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group in Virginia. “Not only is there a niche for the 747 Advanced, but it could have better performance than the A380,” Airbus’ 555-seat jet.

The launch announcement for the 747-8 is “great” news for Everett, said John Monroe, the aerospace coordinator for the Snohomish County Economic Development Council. The 747-8 would sustain local Boeing employment, he said, “and you never know, we might just bring a supplier here.”

The new Boeing jet wouldn’t directly compete with the A380, the new superjumbo by Airbus that’s rated to carry 555 passengers, and could carry up to 800. Boeing is stretching the 747-8 to carry 450 passengers.

However, Boeing projects each trip by a 747-8 will cost an airline 19 percent less than the same trip on Airbus’ superjumbo. And on a per-passenger basis, Boeing says the 747-8 will use 14 percent less fuel.

Boeing has proposed a series of 747 upgrades in the past decade – the 747-500/600, 747X and 747X Stretch and the 747-400XQLR. All were rejected by airlines that didn’t think the improvements were worth the added costs.

What makes this effort different is that many of the upgrades offered on the 747-8 are simply being adapted from developments on the 787, Aboulafia said.

“This is enabling technology that’s being paid for by other people,” he said.

Despite all the changes, the 747-8 “isn’t overly ambitious,” Aboulafia said.

“It’s a relatively small stretch using off-the-shelf advanced technology,” he said. “This isn’t a big gamble for Boeing.”

Yet it could pay off big for Snohomish County, Monroe said.

The 787 and the 747-8 will have many of the same suppliers, he noted. If both planes are being built in Everett, that’s just another argument for those suppliers to set up an operation in the area.

“For the supply chain it really is positive,” he said. With the 747-8 in place, “you will start seeing some supplier activity here.”

And for the thousands of Snohomish County residents who worked on the original 747 program back in the ’60s, the announcement will be a thrill, said Monroe, who was one of those original “Incredibles.”

“Here’s an airplane that’s been in existence since 1967 and is going to be around for another 40 years,” he said. “It’s really incredible to think you could work on something that could be around 80 years. It’s exciting.”