SEATTLE (dpa) – The green light has been given to the construction of Europe’s
giant plane, the Airbus A380, and now the American answer to the challenge
goes by the name “Boeing 747-400X Stretch”.
Officials at Boeing headquarters north of Seattle say the new behemoth
of the skies is to be in operation two years earlier than the double-decker
A380 plane, which is targeted for regular service in 2006.
In addition, the new Boeing jumbo is to be cheaper and have lower maintenance
costs than the A380, which the Europeans are touting Europe’s “jet plane
for the 21st Century”.
Actually, Boeing had already shelved its plans for a super-jet two years
ago because the company at the time did not see a suitable market for such
airplanes.
But with the Europeans showing no sign of backing away from their own ambitious
aims – which showed the promise of success in view of the unexpectedly
quick series of orders for the A380 – the U.S. plane company has again
dug up its plans for a stretch version of the B747.
The new Boeing giant is to be 80.55 metres long and have a wing span of
69.77 metres. It would have a range of 14,000 to 14,500 kilometres, carrying
504 to 660 passengers at a speed of up 0.86 the speed of sound. Extreme
distances like Singapore to London and a flying time of around 16 hours
would be no problem.
The somewhat smaller, but higher-performing 747-400X would be 73.47 metres
long, with a wing span of 69.77 metres. It would carry 430 to 442 passengers
for distances of 16,315 to 16,640 kilometres for 18 hours of non-stop flight.
This would mean routes like Singapore-Chicago, New York-Kuala Lumpur or
Los Angeles-Singapore.
“This plane will surpass all the other jets in terms of economic efficiency
and passenger seat-miles,” says Boeing vice president Randolph Baseler.
“This also will be true for the cargo version 747-400X Stretch.
“Above all, this new 747 generation will be extremely light and have a
maximum flying weight of 473 tons, contributing considerably to cost reductions,”
he added.
Baseler predicted that the new 747-400X series will be three to five per
cent cheaper than the A380 in passenger seat-miles. The cargo planes would
be even 12 per cent cheaper in terms of tons per mile than the A380 cargo
plane.
“No airplane will be able to fly so far as the 747-400X – 700 nautical
miles farther than the A380,” he said. “And at 0.86 Mach, it will be faster
than any other passenger plane.”
The A380 is designed to fly at 0.844 Mach, with its noise emission levels
expected to be 28 per cent below those of the current generation of jumbo
jets.
The Europeans have so far booked 50 firm orders and 42 options – whereas
Boeing is only expecting to start booking its first orders in the first
half of this year.
Industry experts say that the reason why the Europeans currently are out
in front in the super-jumbo race is based on the fact that the Airbus A380
is a completely newly-developed plane, while the 747-400X is “merely” a
considerably more cost-efficient downstream development of three-decade-old
plane.
But this means lower development costs – some 5 billion dollars at Boeing.
Also, the Americans will be able to carry out their first flights of the
new plane in 2004 and start to deliver it to customers in 2005.
In view of the surging growth in the air cargo market, it will probably
be the cargo version of the 747-400X which will first take to the skies.
For its part, Airbus is counting on the advantage of the extremely customer-friendly
compatibility of its family of airplanes.
The cockpits of the planes ranging from the twin-engine A320 family to
the four-engine A340/330 planes to the envisioned A380 are largely identical.
This means that the planes can be flown by all pilots without any major
retraining processes and costs.
On the other hand, Boeing can count on its customers’ long-standing experience
with the venerable B747 as a selling point. Statistics show that among
the 20 leading airlines flying the 747, nine are from Asia, led by Japan
Air Lines with 79 jumbos.
Also, whereas only 3.9 per cent of worldwide B747 plane traffic is accounted
for by flights within the United States, the figure is 30.8 per cent in
the Far East, 12.4 per cent between Europe and the Far East and 12.3 per
cent between the Far East and United States.
The same picture is expected to apply in the future. The most important
market for the flying giants will continue to be the Far East and Pacific
region.
