The Boeing 747-8 is the final series of the large, long-range wide-body airliners in the Boeing 747 family from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 747-8 is the largest variant of the 747 and Boeing's largest aircraft.
After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to the proposed double-deck Airbus A3XX, later developed as the Airbus A380.
The stretched 747 Advanced was launched as the 747-8 on November 14, 2005, for a market forecast of 300 aircraft.
The first 747-8F Freighter performed its maiden flight on February 8, 2010, and the passenger 747-8I Intercontinental followed suit on March 20, 2011.
The cargo version was first delivered in October 2011 and the airliner began commercial service in June 2012.
Boeing 747-8
Boeing 747-400 and 747-500X concept. The 747-500X fuselage would have been stretched by 18 ft (5.5 m) to 250 ft (76.2 m) long. The 747X and 747X Stretch derivatives were also proposed.
Boeing's Everett Facility at Paine Field, originally built for the 747 program, is the site of 747-8 assembly.
The 747-8 landing gear configuration is the same as on earlier 747 versions.
A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft and in the largest cases as a jumbo jet, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is 5 to 6 m. In the typical wide-body economy cabin, passengers are seated seven to ten abreast, allowing a total capacity of 200 to 850 passengers. Seven-abreast aircraft typically seat 160 to 260 passengers, eight-abreast 250 to 380, nine- and ten-abreast 350 to 480. The largest wide-body aircraft are over 6 m (20 ft) wide, and can accommodate up to eleven passengers abreast in high-density configurations.
A narrow-body Boeing 737 of Lufthansa in front of a wide-body Boeing 777 of Emirates
A Boeing 747, the first wide-body passenger aircraft, operated by Pan Am, its launch customer
Three widebodies: KLM's Airbus A330 twinjet, McDonnell Douglas MD-11 trijet and Boeing 747-400 quadjet
An Airbus A300's cross-section, showing cargo, passenger, and overhead areas