The Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental successfully began its flight test program, taking off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, before several thousand employees, customers, suppliers and community leaders.
The airplane landed 4 hours and 25 minutes later at Boeing Field in Seattle.The 747-8 Intercontinental's first flight marks the beginning of a flight test program that will finish in the 4th quarter of 2011.
With 747 Chief Pilot Mark Feuerstein and Capt. Paul Stemer at the controls, the newest member of the 747 family took off at 9:59 a.m. and landed at 2:24 p.m. local time on Monday.
Today's flight was the first of more than 600 flight hours in the test program for the new 747-8 Intercontinental. The airplane followed a route over Eastern Washington, where it underwent tests for basic handling and performance. The airplane reached a cruising altitude of 19,000 feet (5,791 meters), and a speed of up to 250 knots, or about 288 miles per hour (463 kilometers).
The 747-8 Intercontinental will have the lowest seat-mile cost of any large commercial jetliner, with 12 percent lower costs than its predecessor, the 747-400. The airplane provides 16 percent better fuel economy, 16 percent less carbon emissions per passenger and generates a 30 percent smaller noise footprint than the 747-400. The 747-8 Intercontinental applies interior features from the 787 Dreamliner that includes a new curved, upswept architecture giving passengers a greater feeling of space and comfort, while adding more room for personal belongings.
Korean Air and VIP customers joined launch customer Lufthansa in ordering a total of 33 747-8 Intercontinentals. First delivery of the 747-8 Intercontinental is scheduled for the 4th quarter. Air China also agreed to order 5 Intercontinentals, pending government approval.
The airplane is painted in a new Sunrise livery of red-orange and is a significant departure from Boeing's standard blue. The new colors honor many key Boeing customers whose cultures recognize these colors as symbols of prosperity and good luck. The Sunrise livery only will appear on the first 747-8 Intercontinental, which is scheduled to be delivered to a VIP customer at the end of the year.
