Boeing and UPS Expected Future Results from the 747 Aircraft Experiment: The Case for a High-Capacity Freighter
In 2020 Boeing signaled that it would stop building the 423 even if it were in its freighter form, because customers would buy the more fuel efficient 777 or reconditioning old passenger jets to be freighters would save money. While it has not said much, it does expect to continue building the 747 at the factory in Washington. In order to build the massive plane the facility is 200 million cubic feet, which Boeing says makes it the world’s largest building by volume.
The once-groundbreaking jumbo jet, with the distinctive second-floor bulge, is perhaps the most notable and popular plane Boeing has ever built. It was even big enough to be used to ferry the Space Shuttle from landing strips in California to its launch site in Florida. It is set to launch a new type of spaceship by Virgin Orbit as soon as next week.
The 747 was once the choice of the rich and glamorous, and even royalty. The James Bond movie ” Live and Let Die” featured a plane set that looked like the first class lounge on its upper level. The 747 still serves as Air Force One, as it has since 1990. Two already-assembled planes are undergoing work right now to be transformed into the next generation of the presidential jet. Those planes won’t be delivered for at least four years due to delays.
The total is down from more than 130 in passenger jets at the end of the year due to the fact that air travel was very slow due to the Pandemic. Most of those passenger versions of the jets were grounded during the early months of the pandemic and never returned to service.
“The 747-8 is an incredibly capable aircraft, with capacity that is unmatched by any other freighter in production,” said UPS in 2020, when Boeing signaled it would soon stop building the jet. “With a maximum payload of 307,000 lbs., we use them on long, high-volume routes, connecting Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East.”
The longest commercial plane now in service is the current version of the jumbojet, which is about twice the length of the first flight of the Wright Brothers. It has a wingspan that is over 200 feet.
“For more than fifty years, tens of thousands of Boeing employees have designed and built this magnificent airplane that has changed the world,” Kim Smith, Boeing’s vice president and general manager of the 767 programs, said as the company announced the end of production.
The First 16 Months of Aviation: The Boeing Boeing 757 – Fast Sub-Airline Flight from New York to London, 21 Days after the Covid-19 Pandemic
People in the U.S. had the option to go to Hawaii, which was a very young state. And cities around the world became more interconnected by direct flights.
The huge plane was believed to be a win for middle class travelers because it would make air travel more affordable. At the end of the 20th century, the aviation industry started to favor smaller, more fuel- efficient planes as well as less focused on crowded hub-to- hub flights.
In 2020, the British Airways 757 flew from New York to London in just four hours and 56 minutes, setting a new record for the fastest sub.
A spiral staircase led to the upstairs lounge, with space for a bar. The lounge was supposed to be a place for flight crews to take a break. According to the Northwestern University’s Transportation Library, Juan Trippe, Pan Am’s president, who made a 500 million dollar deal with Boeing, recommended a first class passenger area.
Airlines put their own spin on the lounge, with names such as the Penthouse Lounge (TWA) and the Tea House in the Sky (Japan Airlines), according to the library.
Importantly, the Boeing used the advanced high-bypass engine technology considered for the military plane to lift the immense new airliner into the skies with hundreds of people aboard.
The lead designer of the plane said one of the decisions they made was to be a good passenger plane and a good freighter. “That was probably one of the most important decisions we made, because it influenced [the size of the] fuselage. It’s how the wide-body concept came into being.”
The combined work of thousands of employees reflects the 16 months which Boeing says it was first produced in.
It’s been another tough year for aviation, as the world returned to flying after the Covid-19 pandemic, only for the industry to be beset by chaos and cancellations. There were silver linings, however, as the industry slowly recovered and progress was made in terms of more environmentally sustainable flying. There have been some highs and some lows in this ride.
The masks were put on at the beginning of the year. The thaw began in March and April, with Europe leading the way on relaxing restrictions. Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan are opening their doors, which was the slowest to open in Asia. China was the last holdout to exit its Zero Covid strategy, and experts warn it may be too drastic.
Delays, cancellations, long lines, strikes , fewer flights, higher fares . The summer of travel chaos matured into the winter of travel chaos as post-pandemic staffing shortages, infrastructure issues and in some quarters worker disputes, continued to cripple the industry. Demand for flights and seats in the US and other countries remains high, which is pushing up prices.
In July London Heathrow capped passenger traffic to 100,000 departures per day because they couldn’t cope with the demand. Delta Air Lines dealt with baggage handling issues by flying a plane filled with 1,000 lost bags and zero passengers from London to its Detroit hub during the month of airmageddon.
The First Two Years of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The American Airlines, Airlines, and Travel Law in the Age of the 21st Century
The cracks began to show. Wizz Air’s CEO was criticized for telling his staff to take less time off for fatigue. And in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration rejected regional airline Republic Airways’ controversial proposal to reduce the hours it takes to become a co-pilot.
By August, airline passenger complains in the US were up 320% compared with pre-pandemic figures. More than $600 billion in refunds have been issued by US airlines to travelers since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Travelers with disabilities have been particularly hard hit by the gaps in service, with treatment often reaching “unacceptable” levels
All the chaos and drama amounted to rising tensions in the sky and an increase in unruly passenger incidents. Flight attendants were on the front lines of the situation.
Aviation in the Asian Pacific area was down 45% by October 2022, when Covid changed the travel landscape. In May, CNN reported how airline ticket scalpers had taken over the heavily restricted Chinese market.
Desperate pet owners in Hong Kong used to charter private planes to bring their animals out of the city. Having had some of the toughest travel restrictions in the world for more than two years, in October 2022, the newly relaxed Hong Kong confirmed plans to give away half a million airline tickets in a bid to boost tourism.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted in the closing of airspace over both countries and sanctions of Russian airlines (as well as retaliatory sanctions by Russia). Jet fuel prices increased in March due to the conflict. There are plans to rebuild the world’s largest airliner after it was destroyed by Russian forces in the war.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/2022-year-in-aviation/index.html
Making a Comeback: The A380, Qantas, Airbus and the X-59, the UK’s Largest Passenger Jet
The experts believe that “clear-air turbulence” will increase in the coming decades because of the climate crisis. There were many injuries on a Hawaiian Airlines flight on December 18 and there were more than a few injuries on a United Airlines flight the following day.
In spite of high temperatures in Europe, the US and Asia, flights were suspended at a London airport after a runway was damaged. Planes taking off at airports at higher altitudes can be difficult because of the heat. Here’s why
The A380, the world’s largest passenger plane is no longer in production, but it made a comeback after being grounded during the height of the swine flu. Tim Clark, boss of Emirates — the A380’s biggest customer — told CNN he wants Airbus to build another plane on the same mammoth scale. Will airlines or manufacturers bite?
The first ever direct flights between New York City and New Zealand were launched in March by Air New Zealand. Soon after, Qantas launched a direct flight of a similar length between Melbourne and Dallas . In May, Qantas received an order of 12 A350-1000s which it hopes to use on its Project Sunrise flights, which could connect Australia with New York and London.
It’s a notoriously difficult market to turn a profit and that’s one of the reasons why FlyAtlantic is teaming up with Norse Atlantic Airways to bring back budget flights. And JetBlue has announced that it will expand its transatlantic low-fare offering in 2023, by introducing flights from New York and Boston to Paris, on top of its existing London service.
The race to be the successor to Concorde continued. In July, Bombardier’s in-development Global 8000, the world’s fastest passenger jet, went supersonic in tests. And in August, American Airlines agreed to purchase a fleet of 20 Mach 1.7 jets from Boom Supersonic — but the ambitious craft has yet to complete a test flight. The X-59, a quiet supersonic plane, is being worked on by NASA.
In April, CNN Travel was the first to try out a controversial new double-decker airplane seat prototype, which then went viral. Air New Zealand and American Airlines introduced new suites with privacy doors in September.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/2022-year-in-aviation/index.html
Flight Radar 24, a YouTube channel for bumpy plane landings, sees a phenomenologist in the sky and hears the stories of a hero
In February, a UK plane spotter named Jerry Dyer became a national hero asPukiWikiPukiWikiPukiWikirs watched bumpy aircraft landings from his live stream on his YouTube channel. Flight Radar 24, which tracks flights, saw record numbers to its website during events like Queen Elizabeth’s coffin being transported by a jet.