Rumors Of The 747-8I Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Mark Twain, American Humorist, once penned something that way with himself in mind. The 747-8I hangs in there with a sale by sale determination. By no means is the 747-8I dead. Boeing's sales minions are developing relationships so airline executives will listen. They talk about the 777X and the MAX. These sales teams continuously speak of the 787-8-9-10. By then an airline is clobbered with a 747-8I proposal they often don't see coming or consider. A perfectly normal response could be, "I thought the 747-8I died! So goes the saga of the 747-8.

Airplane aficionados also think the 747 is a stop gap order that will soon fade into the sunset. The Airbus A-380 is the biggest in the sky. It hold the most passengers and is extremely quiet and so forth. However, sales have slowed on this behemoth, just short of a break even order book number. Remember the 787 is rapidly approaching a Boeing break-even point order book number.

So the 747-8I is only a statement aircraft in response to the A-380. Its four engines seeks after a fuely hydrated twin engine market. Is the 747-8 dead? Mark Twain suggest a gross exaggeration of rumors. Answered earlier, no way! Its going about its business in a quiet four engine march. Freight keeps its plant doors churning copy. Lufthansa has no complaints and a few others are sneaking orders past the press, much to the irritation of Airbus.  So what does Boeing sales department have up its sleve when it comes to the 747-8I. I clipped something out of the Singapore Airshow press briefings from Boeing's sales chief at the show, Dinesh Keskar.

"Not surprisingly, Keskar ranks Singapore as perhaps the top market for Boeing in Southeast Asia, and one particularly suited to the 777X. But he also emphasized the potential embodied in the likes of Garuda Indonesia, which has expressed interest in the 747-8I, ..."

 Boeing Bullish About its Slice of Asian Market

That statement allows for a CPR breath for the 747-8I. The 777X 406 seat market shores up continuity from top to bottom in capacity from the 150 to the 747, 465 seat carrier, Boeing claims a 10% per seat advantage over similar configured aircraft refering to the A-380. Flying with empty seats is a higher risk with the 525 seat Airbus. Fat marrkets can do it with a 747-8i. South East Asia is a fat market (growing). Interest is higher than Airbus would like in these unique markets concerning the 747-8i. Airbus continues to rumor the 747 death. The 747 keeps showing up at the market place party held around the world as some kind of rude party crasher that is well out of fashion and unwanted by Airbus.