Boeing 747 - Decline in Building

Hello All,

I just found this nice article about the decline in building the 747. It has a good discussion of the reasons, but also has two other things of interest: a 12-picture gallery of Boeing planes going back to 1928 and a 14-minute video of the 747's first test flight, with shots of it being designed and manufactured. I found it very interesting, here's a link to it

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/aviation/sun-setting-boeing-747-conversation/index.html

Clayton

Boeing was late to enter Iran.

Airbus was much, much faster, and they received a great amount of order.

I first noticed this decline back in 2013 when I spotted one of Lufthansa's 747-8s at Frankfurt shortly before boarding a 400 variant (I wasn't as immersed in aviation as I am now, not really knowing much about the 748) and checked out who else would be ordering it. To my surprise... Air China and Korean Air were the only other major airlines to be purchasing them. Not United, not British Airways, not even Qantas, which once "boasted for having an all 747 fleet" (and in my opinion, betrayed the 747 for the a380s). It was then that I noticed that the 747s' lifetime was defined.

Even an 11% increase in fuel-efficiency from the 747-400 isn't enough to save it. I'm surprised the a380 has even more orders, I presume because it has better seat per mile efficiency? Actually I could've sworn the 747-8 which is newer is more efficient, entering the market several years later. Perhaps that's ultimately why there are so few orders for the 747-8; major airlines were already saturated with these VLA (the a380), so demand for the 748 just wasn't happening. Plus airlines now prefer efficient 2-engine aircraft over 4.

Boeing was late to enter Iran.

Airbus was much, much faster, and they received a great amount of order.

The United States can always make an exception to its sanctions and allow North Korea to purchase loads of 747-8s from Boeing. A supreme aircraft for a supreme leader xD.