Boeing rolled out a new jumbo jet yesterday, hoping to relive the glamour of the birth of the 747 over 40 years ago and use it to boost slow sales.
The 747-8 Intercontinental will seat 467 passengers, 51 more than the current version of the 747, and burn less fuel while offering passengers more comfort, Boeing said.
"Of all the airplanes that we've built, there is one that is identified more closely with Boeing than any other, and that's the 747," said James Albaugh, head of Boeing's commercial aircraft unit, introducing the plane to a crowd of almost 10,000 Boeing employees, their families and a select group of industry VIPs.
The event took place in the same hangar at Boeing's Everett plant outside Seattle where the first jumbo made its debut in 1968.
The unveiling came almost 42 years to the day since the maiden flight of the 747, which went on to become the world's most recognised jetliner and transformed the global travel industry.
It is the first appearance of a radically new version of the passenger jet since the first jumbo, with its humped two-storey cabin and 69m wingspan, took the world's breath away on a sunny morning at Everett in September 1968.
The 747 lost its crown as the world's largest airliner when the 525-seat Airbus A380 was unveiled in 2005. But at 19 feet longer than its predecessors, this one will be the longest.
It is the first time the 747 fuselage has been stretched to make the biggest passenger jet marketed by a US manufacturer.
The 747-8 - listed at $317.5 million - also boasts new wings, a new tail, state-of-the-art engines and a new cockpit, making it, according to specialist magazine Flight International, "unrecognisable from that first jumbo jetliner."
Despite its hopes of securing a new lease of life for the 747 family, Boeing has so far managed to win 33 orders for the 747-8 passenger version including just two airlines - Germany's Lufthansa and Korean Air Lines.
The first delivery will be to an unnamed VIP customer instead of an airline late this year, but Boeing has said it is confident of winning new orders as the plane enters service.
Lufthansa, which expects to start operating its new 747s from early 2012, is not concerned that it is one of only two airlines signed up to buy the plane, Nico Buchholz, head of Lufthansa's fleet management, said.
The new 747 was not meant as a replacement for the A380s his airline already operates, Mr Buchholz said, but would fill the gap between its mid-sized planes and the 500-plus-seater market catered for by the A380.
Reuters