Photo: Boeing Commercial Aircraft
There's an upside to $120 / bbl crude, at least from Boeing's viewpoint. It easily gives Middle Eastern oil magnates the means to shell out $313-million for a green B747-8, currently the largest jetliner made by the Chicago-based firm. It provides the largess to spend more than $150-million on a 100,000 lb custom interior at Lufthansa Technik. And, of course, it allows you to feed this nearly 1-million lb monster with $320,000 of jet fuel so that you can fly 8,000 nm in little more than 16 hrs.
Tuesday, Boeing was poised to deliver the first B747-8 to an undisclosed [but surely Middle Eastern oil sheikdom] customer for outfitting. LHT then will spend more than one year installing one of the most lavish custom interiors ever to be fitted to a private jet. LHT's interior decorators have plenty of room for creativity aboard this mega jet. There's more than 5,000 sq ft of floor area and 24,400 cubic ft of cabin volume. There's also 5,700 cubic feet of cargo capacity to take home those littles treasures from Harrod's in Knightsbridge during those occasional family shopping sprees.
Once complete, the custom B747-8 will be able to fly from Riyadh to Hawaii, New Zealand, or even Tierra del Fuego while cruising comfortably at 490 KTAS.
Your garden-variety 6,000 nm range, 455 KTAS B737-based BBJ seems puny and underperforming by comparison. Pitty the little people who have to suffer through with their tiny G650s, Globals and Falcon jets.
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