As the adage goes, all good things must come to an end. In the case of Lufthansa, this means that the last 747-8i has been completed and will join the fleet in a few weeks.
‘D-ABYU’ exited the paint shop on February 16 at Paine Field and will take to the skies in the next few days for her B-1, B-2 and C-1 Flights. These flights will serve to test and certify the aircraft before it is handed over to Lufthansa sometime in March or April, depending on results of the tests.
Here are a few shots that have been kindly shared by spotters at Paine Field yesterday (I had left Seattle one day too soon!):
D-ABYU shortly after being towed out of the Paint Hangar…….Photo courtesy of Woody’s Aero Images
D-ABYU on the day after her completion. Photo courtesy of the Paine Field Blog.
D-ABYU is the 19th Lufthansa 747-8i and marks the end of 3 years of 747-8i deliveries to the airline. The 747-8i made her passenger debut with Lufthansa on June 1, 2012 to rave reviews and has been nothing but a favorite of both Lufthansa and their passengers ever since.
For those of you keeping score at home, here is the timeline of Lufthansa’s 747-8i fleet:
Aircraft Registration Nickname Delivered To Lufthansa
D-ABYA Brandenburg April 25, 2012
D-ABYC Sachsen June 30, 2012
D-ABYD
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern August 24, 2012
D-ABYF Sachsen-Anhalt October 23, 2012
D-ABYG Baden-Württemberg March 12, 2013
D-ABYH Thüringen March 27, 2013
D-ABYI Potsdam (Fanhansa Livery) May 29, 2013
D-ABYJ Hannover June 25, 2013
D-ABYK Rheinland-Pfalz August 13, 2013
D-ABYL Hessen February 6, 2014
D-ABYM Bayern February 28, 2014
D-ABYN Niedersachsen March 31, 2014
D-ABYP Nordrhein-Westfalen (1500th 747) June 25, 2014
D-ABYQ Schleswig-Holstein August 29, 2014
D-ABYR Bremen January 26, 2015
D-ABYS February 2015 (TBD)
D-ABYT Retro-Livery March 2015 (TBD)
D-ABYU March / April 2015 (TBD)
For enthusiasts, this also marks the beginning of the end of the 4-engine airliner. Over the next 15-20 years, the final 747s and A380s will be phased out leaving us only with 2-engine aircraft to get excited about.
If you’d like to see my 747-8i Gallery where I’ve caught every LH 747-8i except for the elusive D-ABYK, please click here to be taken to Aero-Shots.com, my personal plane spotting archive.
Now there is one minor caveat to all of this……When I was in Seattle last week, I spoke to a few people with Boeing who are familiar with the 747-8i program and brought up the fact that there is another Lufthansa 747-8i that was never finished. D-ABYE (Line/Airframe #1435 in Boeing-Speak) was used by Boeing for certain testing in 2012/13 and at the time of its manufacture, it was turned down by Lufthansa as a deliverable aircraft.
However, during the past weeks, the aircraft that would have been D-ABYE has been seen being put back into the Factory for finishing work. There seems to be 2 strong rumors circling ‘YE’, one is that in fact Lufthansa may actually wind up taking delivery of ‘YE’ while the other rumor suggests that it will be turned into a Boeing Business Jet and sold to a private individual or Sovereign State. This mystery should resolve itself in the not-too-distant future……
Left to be constructed (I believe) are the 10 Korean Intercontinentals and 2 Freighters, 3 remaining Air China Intercontinental frames which are all in the FAL at the moment I beleive, the 4 Transaero Inercontinentals, 6 NCA Freighters, and 1 Cathay Freighter I believe. There are probably some I am missing in there somewhere.
Additionally, there have been rumors of Air China placing a follow up order, there is the Silk Way order for 3 frames from earlier this year that is waiting on final details, and ABC has said they will be taking at least 1 more Freighter this year.
With the continued rebound in the air cargo market, there will hopefully be more orders for growth and replacement on the Freighter side. The Intercontinental side seems to be a much tougher sell, which is a shame, but as Air China continues its deployment, and later this year KAL, maybe there will be a bit more traction there as well. There is the constant Turkish Airlines talk, and the apparent pitch by someone (GEACS?) to EK for 100 frames earlier this month.
Were you able to discuss with anyone while you were there if they had a feeling on a possible top-up order by LH beyond perhaps taking their 20th frame still?
Ugh…I meant to type 8 of the 10 Korean Intercontinentals…
Everything that I hear about the follow up order is suggesting that there will not be one since LH is caught in the middle of the transition away from new 4 engine aircraft and can now afford to wait for the 777s. But I can’t say factually what is happening at the moment, except for what a few trusted sources are suggesting so far.
I think for passengers the A380 is better is most ways.
When Boeing pulled out of the A380 program, it screwed not only Airbus, but Boeing too.
Boeing pulled out of the A380???
too bad since I much prefer the 747-8 over the A380
I like the legacy of the 747, but objectively speaking, the A380 wins in every category. Sad to see the 747-8 die, but the 777-300ER is too good to justify the 747.
sorry but the A380 wins for me EVERY time over the 747 – much as I like the history 🙂
I suppose the next pair of 748s coming off the line will be will be headed to Andrews AFB as the new AF1…unless the new Saudi king doesn’t like the one his predecessor flew in and wants a new one of his own! Finally got to fly one of these last month in F — FRA-IAD — after the fiasco of the SMD3 when we were supposed to fly on one of these but LH kept changing the US destination airport.
There are also a few cargo -8s and a couple for Air China, Asiana and Korean yet. In all I think there are 13 748s left to build. I think after that, with no orders, the line gets refit for the military. Not exactly a screaming success for Boeing unfortunately.