V-Flyer

http://www.newairplane.com/747/incredible/

That is one sexy looking plane.

Interesting comments being made right now by Boeing, lower CASM than it's competitor, they are saying 15%, if that is true then Airbus has a major problem.

It does look amazing!

Interesting to hear they've kept it as similar as possible to the 744 in terms of feel and layout for crew.

Would look very nice in VS colours!!

I hope we see lots of these soon, so much nicer than an Airbus.

Yes, the 747-8 is a nice plane. Not sure if claims regarding lower CASM are believable. IMO, the A380 and 747 are both very large aircraft however, the 380 still has larger capacity than the 747-8. CASM is still relative to airline seating configuration and revenue miles. For that matter, the nearest competitor to the 747-8 would be a 500 passenger 777-300, which NH flies on domestic routes.

You are of course correct, the truth really won't be known until LH starts flying the 388 and 748 side by side.

Though strangely, I have this sneaking supposition that Boeing is being very sneaky with the fuel burn numbers, nothing I can of course prove, however, my thought pattern goes like this.

Boeing releases the 788, Airbus responds to it with the original 350, Boeing releases fuel burn predictions etc causing Airbus to scuttle those plans and go for an all new design.

Now Airbus has the 388 which, if you can fill it is the CASM king, however a number of airlines have stated publicly they would like to see the 389 being produced, something Airbus really doesn't want to do.

Now if Boeing had released figures to early that shows a big fuel burn advantage over the 388 (remember 2-3% is a huge number) then Airbus could have responded quickly, now there is no way for them to get a 389 into service before a number of 748's are delivered...and... Boeing has far more capacity to build 748's, so could the 388 lose orders if the numbers are good, sure, either way they are both great aircraft.

Scrooge wrote:Interesting comments being made right now by Boeing, lower CASM than it's competitor, they are saying 15%, if that is true then Airbus has a major problem.

This things only apply in paper circumstances and only when one manufacturer selectively picks data from the other to compare to.

For example Boeing use a 467 seat configuration - but consider that BA only puts 291 in many of its 747s so will have nothing like the same CASM. Also consider they use 550 seat A380 to compare to, but it can seat up to 650.

So its all a game of damned statistics.

As for the 747/8 - I think they should have let the model slowly slip away. It's going to be another expensive failure for Boeing (after the 787) and looks what it is, a very dated aircraft now.

Yes, exactly. It's a game of statistics. The real test, as Scrooge says, is LH flying the A380 side by side with the 747-8i. LH seats 530 on their 380s. LH will seat 380 seats on their new 747-8is. Now, carriers like MH, are still flying 747-400s with 380 seats. So, will the 747-8i be more fuel efficient than it's competitor, which seems to be the 747-400?

Time will tell as they say! I hope you are wrong Slinky, those of us who have grown up with the 747 love her to bits and to have a new generation coming on stream preserves that legacy.

Should have added a thank you to Scrooge for posting the link!