Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport ( IATA : KWE , ICAO : ZUGY ) is an international airport serving Guiyang , the capital of Southwest China ’s Guizhou province.
139-559: Guiyang Longdongbao Airport was opened on 28 May 1997 and adopted its current name on 19 January 2006. It is located 11 km (6.8 mi) southeast from Guiyang's city center. It is about 4 km (1.5 sq mi) and has a 3,200-metre (10,500 ft) long, 45-metre (148 ft) wide runway, which can accommodate Boeing 747 , Airbus A330 widebodied aircraft. The terminal is about 34,000 m (370,000 sq ft), available for over 2000 passengers departing and arriving per hour. In 2017, Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport
278-459: A freighter airplane by installing a front cargo door, as it was initially thought that it would eventually be superseded by supersonic transports . Boeing introduced the -200 in 1971, with uprated engines for a heavier maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 833,000 pounds (378 t) from the initial 735,000 pounds (333 t), increasing the maximum range from 4,620 to 6,560 nautical miles [nmi] (8,560 to 12,150 km; 5,320 to 7,550 mi). It
417-683: A supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound . To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144 . The last passenger flight of the Tu-144 was in June 1978 and it was last flown in 1999 by NASA . Concorde's last commercial flight was in October 2003, with a November 26, 2003 ferry flight being its last flight. Following
556-610: A $ 569 million post-tax charge against its fourth-quarter 2015 profits. At the end of 2015, the company had 20 orders outstanding. On January 29, 2016, Boeing announced that it had begun the preliminary work on the modifications to a commercial 747-8 for the next Air Force One presidential aircraft, then expected to be operational by 2020. On July 12, 2016, Boeing announced that it had finalized an order from Volga-Dnepr Group for 20 747-8 freighters, valued at $ 7.58 billion (~$ 9.44 billion in 2023) at list prices. Four aircraft were delivered beginning in 2012. Volga-Dnepr Group
695-459: A 5,000-nautical-mile (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) range with a typical 452-passenger payload, and an increased MTOW of 750,000 lb (340 t) was offered. The first -100B order, one aircraft for Iran Air , was announced on June 1, 1978. This version first flew on June 20, 1979, received FAA certification on August 1, 1979, and was delivered the next day. Nine -100Bs were built, one for Iran Air and eight for Saudi Arabian Airlines . Unlike
834-590: A 520,000-pound (240 t) MTOW and Pratt & Whitney JT9D -7A engines derated to 43,000 pounds-force (190 kN) of thrust. Following the -100SR, Boeing produced the -100BSR, a 747SR variant with increased takeoff weight capability. Debuting in 1978, the -100BSR also incorporated structural modifications for a high cycle-to-flying hour ratio; a related standard -100B model debuted in 1979. The -100BSR first flew on November 3, 1978, with first delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA) on December 21, 1978. A total of 20 -100BSRs were produced for ANA and JAL. The -100BSR had
973-548: A 600,000 pounds (270 t) MTOW and was powered by the same JT9D-7A or General Electric CF6 -45 engines used on the -100SR. ANA operated this variant on domestic Japanese routes with 455 or 456 seats until retiring its last aircraft in March 2006. In 1986, two -100BSR SUD models, featuring the stretched upper deck (SUD) of the -300, were produced for JAL. The type's maiden flight occurred on February 26, 1986, with FAA certification and first delivery on March 24, 1986. JAL operated
1112-543: A class, can supply increased fuel efficiency at supersonic speeds, even though their specific fuel consumption is greater at higher speeds. Because their speed over the ground is greater, this decrease in efficiency is less than proportional to speed until well above Mach 2, and the consumption per unit distance is lower. When Concorde was being designed by Aérospatiale – BAC , high bypass jet engines (" turbofan " engines) had not yet been deployed on subsonic aircraft. Had Concorde entered service against earlier designs like
1251-473: A compromise in performance is chosen, often to the detriment of low speed flight. For example, Concorde had very high drag (a lift to drag ratio of about 4) at slow speed, but it travelled at high speed for most of the flight. Designers of Concorde spent 5000 hours optimizing the vehicle shape in wind tunnel tests to maximize the overall performance over the entire flightplan. The Boeing 2707 featured swing wings to give higher efficiency at low speeds, but
1390-542: A controlled dive during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base. The crew were William Magruder (pilot), Paul Patten (copilot), Joseph Tomich (flight engineer), and Richard H. Edwards (flight test engineer). This is the first supersonic flight by a civilian airliner. In total, 20 Concordes were built: two prototypes, two development aircraft and 16 production aircraft. Of the sixteen production aircraft, two did not enter commercial service and eight remained in service as of April 2003. All but two of these aircraft are preserved;
1529-415: A few decades. These materials, such as carbon fibre and Kevlar are much stronger for their weight (important to deal with stresses) as well as being more rigid. As per-seat weight of the structure is much higher in an SST design, structural improvements would have led to a greater proportional improvement than the same changes in a subsonic aircraft. Higher fuel costs and lower passenger capacities due to
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#17327834388811668-452: A fully occupied 747. Nonetheless, many flag-carriers purchased the 747 due to its prestige "even if it made no sense economically" to operate. During the 1970s and 1980s, over 30 regularly scheduled 747s could often be seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport . The recession of 1969–1970 , despite having been characterized as relatively mild, greatly affected Boeing. For the year and a half after September 1970, it only sold two 747s in
1807-428: A good spread of support on the ground and safety in case of tire blow-outs. The main gear are redundant so that landing can be performed on two opposing landing gears if the others are not functioning properly. The 747 also has split control surfaces and was designed with sophisticated triple-slotted flaps that minimize landing speeds and allow the 747 to use standard-length runways. For transportation of spare engines,
1946-433: A guide and means of comparison, observing that no detectable ozone loss was evident from approximately 213 megatons of explosive energy being released in 1962, so therefore the equivalent amount of NOx from "1047" Concordes flying "10 hours a day", would likewise, not be unprecedented. In 1981 models and observations were still irreconcilable. More recent computer models in 1995 by David W. Fahey, an atmospheric scientist at
2085-405: A high-capacity airliner with enough range to cover Pan Am's New York–Middle Eastern routes and Iran Air's planned Tehran–New York route. The Tehran–New York route, when launched, was the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world. The 747SP is 48 feet 4 inches (14.73 m) shorter than the 747-100. Fuselage sections were eliminated fore and aft of the wing, and the center section of
2224-437: A higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) variant, and the -100SR (Short Range), with higher passenger capacity. Increased maximum takeoff weight allows aircraft to carry more fuel and have longer range. The -200 model followed in 1971, featuring more powerful engines and a higher MTOW. Passenger, freighter and combination passenger-freighter versions of the -200 were produced. The shortened 747SP (special performance) with
2363-403: A long "spine" running the length of the aircraft with the wing spar passing through it, while Boeing blended the two, with a longer pod that ran from just behind the nose to just behind the wing. In 1965, Lockheed's aircraft design and General Electric's engine design were selected for the new C-5 Galaxy transport, which was the largest military aircraft in the world at the time. Boeing carried
2502-410: A longer range was also developed, and entered service in 1976. The 747 line was further developed with the launch of the 747-300 on June 11, 1980, followed by interest from Swissair a month later and the go-ahead for the project. The 300 series resulted from Boeing studies to increase the seating capacity of the 747, during which modifications such as fuselage plugs and extending the upper deck over
2641-485: A mode of transport does not typically lead to such technological investments to increase the speed. Instead, the service providers prefer to compete in service quality and cost. An example of this phenomenon is high-speed rail . The speed limit of rail transport had been pushed so hard to enable it to effectively compete with road and air transport. But this achievement was not done for different rail operating companies to compete among themselves. This phenomenon also reduces
2780-588: A much stronger (and therefore heavier) structure because their fuselage must be pressurized to a greater differential than subsonic aircraft, which do not operate at the high altitudes necessary for supersonic flight. These factors together meant that the empty weight per seat of Concorde is more than three times that of a Boeing 747. Concorde and the TU-144 were both constructed of conventional aluminum: Concorde of Hiduminium and TU-144 of duralumin . Modern, advanced materials were not to come out of development for
2919-421: A new jet airliner 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 times size of the 707, with a 30% lower cost per unit of passenger-distance and the capability to offer mass air travel on international routes. Trippe also thought that airport congestion could be addressed by a larger new aircraft. In 1965, Joe Sutter was transferred from Boeing's 737 development team to manage the design studies for the new airliner, already assigned
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#17327834388813058-462: A range of 4,620 nautical miles (8,556 km), was the original variant launched in 1966. The 747-200 soon followed, with its launch in 1968. The 747-300 was launched in 1980 and was followed by the 747-400 in 1985. Ultimately, the 747-8 was announced in 2005. Several versions of each variant have been produced, and many of the early variants were in production simultaneously. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) classifies variants using
3197-522: A second flight from Edinburgh , and a third which had taken off from Heathrow on a loop flight over the Bay of Biscay . By the end of the 20th century, projects like the Tupolev Tu-244 , Tupolev Tu-344 , SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport , Sukhoi-Gulfstream S-21 , High Speed Civil Transport , etc. had not been realized. For all vehicles traveling through air, the force of drag is proportional to
3336-484: A serious issue due to the high altitudes at which the planes flew, but experiments in the mid-1960s such as the controversial Oklahoma City sonic boom tests and studies of the USAF 's North American XB-70 Valkyrie proved otherwise (see Sonic boom § Abatement ). By 1964, whether civilian supersonic aircraft would be licensed was unclear, because of the problem. The annoyance of a sonic boom can be avoided by waiting until
3475-447: A shortened code formed by combining the model number and the variant designator (e.g. "B741" for all -100 models). The first 747-100s were built with six upper deck windows (three per side) to accommodate upstairs lounge areas. Later, as airlines began to use the upper deck for premium passenger seating instead of lounge space, Boeing offered an upper deck with ten windows on either side as an option. Some early -100s were retrofitted with
3614-496: A single airline before or since. Ultimately, the high-winged CX-HLS Boeing design was not used for the 747, although technologies developed for their bid had an influence. The original design included a full-length double-deck fuselage with eight-across seating and two aisles on the lower deck and seven-across seating and two aisles on the upper deck. However, concern over evacuation routes and limited cargo-carrying capability caused this idea to be scrapped in early 1966 in favor of
3753-620: A single return trip could be made per day, so the extra speed was not an advantage to the airline other than as a selling feature to its customers. The proposed American SSTs were intended to fly at Mach 3, partly for this reason. However, allowing for acceleration and deceleration time, a trans-Atlantic trip on a Mach 3 SST would be less than three times as fast as a Mach 1 trip. Since SSTs produce sonic booms at supersonic speeds they are rarely permitted to fly supersonic over land, and must fly supersonic over sea instead. Since they are inefficient at subsonic speeds compared to subsonic aircraft, range
3892-424: A speed increase. Also, for-profit companies generally prefer low risk business plans with high probabilities of appreciable profit, but an expensive leading-edge technological research and development program is a high-risk enterprise, as it is possible that the program will fail for unforeseeable technical reasons or will meet cost overruns so great as to force the company, due to financial resource limits, to abandon
4031-435: A supersonic aircraft needs to change with its speed for optimal performance. Thus, an SST would ideally change shape during flight to maintain optimal performance at both subsonic and supersonic speeds. Such a design would introduce complexity which increases maintenance needs, operations costs, and safety concerns. In practice all supersonic transports have used essentially the same shape for subsonic and supersonic flight, and
4170-405: A test aircraft was flown to Renton to have test equipment removed and a cabin installed. Pilot Ralph C. Cokely undershot the airport's short runway and the 747's right, outer landing gear was torn off and two engine nacelles were damaged. However, these difficulties did not prevent Boeing from taking a test aircraft to the 28th Paris Air Show in mid-1969, where it was displayed to the public for
4309-534: A threat that was, in 1974, seemingly validated by an MIT team commissioned by the United States Department of Transportation . However, while many purely theoretical models were indicating the potential for large ozone losses from SST nitrogen oxides ( NOx ), other scientists in the paper " Nitrogen Oxides, Nuclear Weapon Testing , Concorde and Stratospheric Ozone " turned to historical ozone monitoring and atmospheric nuclear testing to serve as
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4448-544: A total of 3,746 people have died. In 1963, the United States Air Force started a series of study projects on a very large strategic transport aircraft. Although the C-141 Starlifter was being introduced, officials believed that a much larger and more capable aircraft was needed, especially to carry cargo that would not fit in any existing aircraft. These studies led to initial requirements for
4587-454: A typical wing design will cut its L/D ratio in half (e.g., Concorde managed a ratio of 7.14, whereas the subsonic Boeing 747 has an L/D ratio of 17). Because an aircraft's design must provide enough lift to overcome its own weight, a reduction of its L/D ratio at supersonic speeds requires additional thrust to maintain its airspeed and altitude. Jet engine design shifts significantly between supersonic and subsonic aircraft. Jet engines, as
4726-638: A vice president with Lockheed , stated to various magazines that an SST constructed of steel weighing 250,000 pounds (110,000 kg) could be developed for $ 160 million and in production lots of 200 or more sold for around $ 9 million. But it was the Anglo-French development of the Concorde that set off panic in the US industry, where it was thought that Concorde would soon replace all other long range designs, especially after Pan Am took out purchase options on
4865-423: A weekly flight to Paris, France , on March 24, 2019, opening up Guiyang and Guizhou Province to international long-haul air travel for the first time. In June 2017, Guiyang airport launched cooperation with the aviation data service company VariFlight regarding the installation of Airport Collaborative Decision Making system (A-CDM). The main purpose of this system is to improve on-time performance and safety of
5004-448: A wider single deck design. The cockpit was therefore placed on a shortened upper deck so that a freight-loading door could be included in the nose cone; this design feature produced the 747's distinctive "hump". In early models, what to do with the small space in the pod behind the cockpit was not clear, and this was initially specified as a "lounge" area with no permanent seating. (A different configuration that had been considered to keep
5143-421: Is a function of forward speed, which decreases from propellers, to fans, to no bypass at all as speed increases. Additionally, the large frontal area taken up by the low-pressure fan at the front of the engine increases drag, especially at supersonic speeds, and means the bypass ratios are much more limited than on subsonic aircraft. For example, the early Tu-144S was fitted with a low bypass turbofan engine which
5282-442: Is deteriorated and the number of routes that the aircraft can fly non-stop is reduced. This also reduces the desirability of such aircraft for most airlines. Supersonic aircraft have higher per-passenger fuel consumption than subsonic aircraft; this makes the ticket price necessarily higher, all other factors being equal, as well as making that price more sensitive to the price of oil. (It also makes supersonic flights less friendly to
5421-403: Is low at take-off, but is forced high during supersonic cruise. Transition between the two modes would occur at some point during the climb and back again during the descent (to minimize jet noise upon approach). The difficulty is devising a variable cycle engine configuration that meets the requirement for a low cross-sectional area during supersonic cruise. The sonic boom was not thought to be
5560-433: Is more efficient, it is still less efficient than flying subsonically. Another issue in supersonic flight is the lift to drag ratio (L/D ratio) of the wings. At supersonic speeds, airfoils generate lift in an entirely different manner than at subsonic speeds, and are invariably less efficient. For this reason, considerable research has been put into designing wing planforms for sustained supersonic cruise. At about Mach 2,
5699-491: Is not able to withstand temperatures much over 127 °C; above 127 °C the aluminium gradually loses its properties that were brought about by age hardening. For aircraft that have flown at Mach 3, materials such as stainless steel ( XB-70 Valkyrie , MiG-25 ) or titanium ( SR-71 , Sukhoi T-4 ) have been used. The range of an aircraft depends on three efficiencies which appear in the Breguet range equation. They are
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5838-513: Is the parent of three major Russian air-freight carriers – Volga-Dnepr Airlines , AirBridgeCargo Airlines and Atran Airlines . The new 747-8 freighters would replace AirBridgeCargo's current 747-400 aircraft and expand the airline's fleet and will be acquired through a mix of direct purchases and leasing over the next six years, Boeing said. On July 27, 2016, in its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission , Boeing discussed
5977-463: The 767 and Airbus A300 / A310 twinjets ). Having tried replacing coach seats on its 747s with piano bars in an attempt to attract more customers, American Airlines eventually relegated its 747s to cargo service and in 1983 exchanged them with Pan Am for smaller aircraft; Delta Air Lines also removed its 747s from service after several years. Later, Delta acquired 747s again in 2008 as part of its merger with Northwest Airlines , although it retired
6116-532: The Boeing 707 or de Havilland Comet , it would have been much more competitive, though the 707 and DC-8 still carried more passengers. When these high bypass jet engines reached commercial service in the 1960s, subsonic jet engines immediately became much more efficient, closer to the efficiency of turbojets at supersonic speeds. One major advantage of the SST disappeared. Turbofan engines improve efficiency by increasing
6255-413: The Boeing 747 carrying four times that, the speed and fuel advantages of the SST concept were taken away by sheer size. Another problem was that the wide range of speeds over which an SST operates makes it difficult to improve engines. While subsonic engines had made great strides in increased efficiency through the 1960s with the introduction of the turbofan engine with ever-increasing bypass ratios ,
6394-465: The Boeing 747-400 fleet in December 2017. International flights bypassing traditional hub airports and landing at smaller cities became more common throughout the 1980s, thus eroding the 747's original market. Many international carriers continued to use the 747 on Pacific routes. In Japan, 747s on domestic routes were configured to carry nearly the maximum passenger capacity. The 747-100 with
6533-475: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , and others, suggest that the drop in ozone would be at most, "no more" than 1 to 2% if a fleet of 500 supersonic aircraft [were] operated. Fahey expressed that this would not be a fatal obstacle for an advanced SST development – while "a big caution flag...[it] should not be a showstopper for advanced SST development" because "removing the sulfur in
6672-560: The Tu-144 , which the western press nicknamed the "Concordski". The SST was seen as particularly offensive due to its sonic boom and the potential for its engine exhaust to damage the ozone layer . Both problems impacted the thinking of lawmakers, and eventually Congress dropped funding for the US SST program in March 1971, and all overland commercial supersonic flight was banned over
6811-409: The coefficient of drag ( C d ), to the square of the airspeed and to the air density. Since drag rises rapidly with speed, a key priority of supersonic aircraft design is to minimize this force by lowering the coefficient of drag. This gives rise to the highly streamlined shapes of SSTs. To some extent, supersonic aircraft also manage drag by flying at higher altitudes than subsonic aircraft, where
6950-596: The delta wing in most studies, including the Sud Aviation Super-Caravelle and Bristol Type 223 , although Armstrong-Whitworth proposed a more radical design, the Mach 1.2 M-Wing . Avro Canada proposed several designs to TWA that included Mach 1.6 double-ogee wing and Mach 1.2 delta-wing with separate tail and four under-wing engine configurations. Avro's team moved to the UK where its design formed
7089-401: The tailplane (horizontal stabilizer); detailed investigations showed, however, that the best estimate of the exposure to depleted uranium was ".. several orders of magnitude less than the workers' limit for chronic exposure." The flight test program was hampered by problems with the 747's JT9D engines. Difficulties included engine stalls caused by rapid throttle movements and distortion of
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#17327834388817228-506: The -100BSR SUD with 563 seats on domestic routes until their retirement in the third quarter of 2006. While only two -100BSR SUDs were produced, in theory, standard -100Bs can be modified to the SUD certification. Overall, 29 Boeing 747SRs were built. The 747-100B model was developed from the -100SR, using its stronger airframe and landing gear design. The type had an increased fuel capacity of 48,070 US gal (182,000 L), allowing for
7367-487: The 300 series were produced. In 1985, development of the longer range 747-400 began. The variant had a new glass cockpit , which allowed for a cockpit crew of two instead of three, new engines, lighter construction materials, and a redesigned interior. Development costs soared, and production delays occurred as new technologies were incorporated at the request of airlines. Insufficient workforce experience and reliance on overtime contributed to early production problems on
7506-519: The 747 Advanced that were eventually adopted. Similar in nature to the 747-X, the stretched 747 Advanced used technology from the 787 to modernize the design and its systems. The 747 remained the largest passenger airliner in service until the Airbus A380 began airline service in 2007. On November 14, 2005, Boeing announced it was launching the 747 Advanced as the Boeing 747-8 . The last 747-400s were completed in 2009. As of 2011 , most orders of
7645-549: The 747 can accommodate a non-functioning fifth-pod engine under the aircraft's port wing between the inner functioning engine and the fuselage. The fifth engine mount point was also used by Virgin Orbit 's LauncherOne program to carry an orbital-class rocket to cruise altitude where it was deployed. After the aircraft's introduction with Pan Am in 1970, other airlines that had bought the 747 to stay competitive began to put their own 747s into service. Boeing estimated that half of
7784-468: The 747 had been a major challenge, and building its assembly plant was also a huge undertaking. Boeing president William M. Allen asked Malcolm T. Stamper, then head of the company's turbine division, to oversee construction of the Everett factory and to start production of the 747. To level the site, more than four million cubic yards (three million cubic meters) of earth had to be moved. Time
7923-472: The 747-400, several stretching schemes for the 747 were proposed. Boeing announced the larger 747-500X and -600X preliminary designs in 1996. The new variants would have cost more than US$ 5 billion to develop, and interest was not sufficient to launch the program. In 2000, Boeing offered the more modest 747X and 747X stretch derivatives as alternatives to the Airbus A38X . However, the 747X family
8062-472: The 747-400. The -400 entered service in 1989. In 1991, a record-breaking 1,087 passengers were flown in a 747 during a covert operation to airlift Ethiopian Jews to Israel . Generally, the 747-400 held between 416 and 524 passengers. The 747 remained the heaviest commercial aircraft in regular service until the debut of the Antonov An-124 Ruslan in 1982; variants of the 747-400 surpassed
8201-511: The 747-8 were for the freighter variant. On February 8, 2010, the 747-8 Freighter made its maiden flight . The first delivery of the 747-8 went to Cargolux in 2011. The first 747-8 Intercontinental passenger variant was delivered to Lufthansa on May 5, 2012. The 1,500th Boeing 747 was delivered in June 2014 to Lufthansa. In January 2016, Boeing stated it was reducing 747-8 production to six per year beginning in September 2016, incurring
8340-459: The An-124's weight in 2000. The Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo transport , which debuted in 1988, remains the world's largest aircraft by several measures (including the most accepted measures of maximum takeoff weight and length); one aircraft has been completed and was in service until 2022. The Scaled Composites Stratolaunch is currently the largest aircraft by wingspan . After the arrival of
8479-526: The CX-Heavy Logistics System (CX-HLS) in March 1964 for an aircraft with a load capacity of 180,000 pounds (81.6 t) and a speed of Mach 0.75 (430 kn; 800 km/h), and an unrefueled range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) with a payload of 115,000 pounds (52.2 t). The payload bay had to be 17 feet (5.18 m) wide by 13.5 feet (4.11 m) high and 100 feet (30 m) long with access through doors at
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#17327834388818618-421: The Concorde. Congress was soon funding an SST design effort, selecting the existing Lockheed L-2000 and Boeing 2707 designs, to produce an even more advanced, larger, faster and longer ranged design. The Boeing 2707 design was eventually selected for continued work, with design goals of ferrying around 300 passengers and having a cruising speed near to Mach 3 . The Soviet Union set out to produce its own design,
8757-541: The London–New York route in mind. The plane was allowed into Washington, D.C. (at Dulles in Virginia ), and the service was so popular that New Yorkers were soon complaining because they did not have it. It was not long before Concorde was flying into JFK . Along with shifting political considerations, the flying public continued to show interest in high-speed ocean crossings. This started additional design studies in
8896-425: The SST fleet would emit ~96 million metric tons of CO₂ per year (like American , Delta and Southwest combined in 2017), 1.6 to 2.4 gigatonnes of CO₂ over their 25-year lifetime: one-fifth of the international aviation carbon budget if aviation maintains its emissions share to stay under a 1.5 °C climate trajectory . Noise exposed area around airports could double compared to existing subsonic aircraft of
9035-470: The US, under the name "AST" (Advanced Supersonic Transport). Lockheed's SCV was a new design for this category, while Boeing continued studies with the 2707 as a baseline. By this time, the economics of past SST concepts were no longer reasonable. When first designed, the SSTs were envisioned to compete with long-range aircraft seating 80 to 100 passengers such as the Boeing 707 , but with newer aircraft such as
9174-415: The US. Presidential advisor Russell Train warned that a fleet of 500 SSTs flying at 65,000 ft (20 km) for a period of years could raise stratospheric water content by as much as 50% to 100%. According to Train, this could lead to greater ground-level heat and hamper the formation of ozone . Later, an additional threat to the ozone was hypothesized as a result of the exhaust's nitrogen oxides ,
9313-559: The United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 times its size, to reduce its seat cost by 30%. In 1965, Joe Sutter left the 737 development program to design the 747. In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft, and in late 1966, Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop the JT9D engine, a high-bypass turbofan . On September 30, 1968,
9452-405: The aerodynamic efficiency, which says how much wanted lift can be produced without too much unwanted drag, powerplant efficiency, which says how much fuel is converted into moving the aircraft against its drag resistance, and structural efficiency, which says how heavy the structure is compared to the fuel and passengers it can carry. Airlines potentially value very fast aircraft, because it enables
9591-528: The aerodynamic requirement for a narrow fuselage make SSTs an expensive form of commercial civil transportation compared with subsonic aircraft. For example, the Boeing 747 can carry more than three times as many passengers as Concorde while using approximately the same amount of fuel. Nevertheless, fuel costs are not the bulk of the price for most subsonic aircraft passenger tickets. For the transatlantic business market that SST aircraft were utilized for, Concorde
9730-591: The air density is lower. As speeds approach the speed of sound, the additional phenomenon of wave drag appears. This is a powerful form of drag that begins at transonic speeds (around Mach 0.88 ). Around Mach 1, the peak coefficient of drag is four times that of subsonic drag. Above the transonic range, the coefficient drops drastically again, although remains 20% higher by Mach 2.5 than at subsonic speeds. Supersonic aircraft must have considerably more power than subsonic aircraft require to overcome this wave drag, and although cruising performance above transonic speed
9869-644: The aircraft is at high altitude over water before reaching supersonic speeds; this was the technique used by Concorde. However, it precludes supersonic flight over populated areas. Supersonic aircraft have poor lift/drag ratios at subsonic speeds as compared to subsonic aircraft (unless technologies such as variable-sweep wings are employed), and hence burn more fuel, which results in their use being economically disadvantageous on such flight paths. Concorde had an overpressure of 1.94 lb/sq ft (93 Pa) (133 dBA SPL). Overpressures over 1.5 lb/sq ft (72 Pa) (131 dBA SPL) often cause complaints. If
10008-502: The aircraft spends a considerable amount of time in cruise. SST designs flying at least three times as fast as existing subsonic transports were possible, and would thus be able to replace as many as three planes in service, and thereby lower costs in terms of manpower and maintenance. Serious work on SST designs started in the mid-1950s, when the first generation of supersonic fighter aircraft were entering service. In Britain and France, government-subsidized SST programs quickly settled on
10147-495: The aircraft to make more flights per day, providing a higher return on investment. Also, passengers generally prefer faster, shorter-duration trips to slower, longer-duration trips, so operating faster aircraft can give an airline a competitive advantage, even to the extent that many customers will willingly pay higher fares for the benefit of saving time and/or arriving sooner. However, Concorde's high noise levels around airports, time zone issues, and insufficient speed meant that only
10286-408: The aircraft's upper deck; instead of using a conventional slide, volunteer passengers escaped by using a harness attached to a reel. Tests also involved taxiing such a large aircraft. Boeing built an unusual training device known as "Waddell's Wagon" (named for a 747 test pilot, Jack Waddell) that consisted of a mock-up cockpit mounted on the roof of a truck. While the first 747s were still being built,
10425-462: The airframe, along with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for the engines. The airframe proposals shared several features. As the CX-HLS needed to be able to be loaded from the front, a door had to be included where the cockpit usually was. All of the companies solved this problem by moving the cockpit above the cargo area; Douglas had a small "pod" just forward and above the wing, Lockheed used
10564-413: The airline desirability of SSTs, because, for very long-distance transportation (a couple of thousand kilometers), competition between different modes of transport is rather like a single-horse race: air transport does not have a significant competitor. The only competition is between the airline companies, and they would rather pay moderately to reduce cost and increase service quality than pay much more for
10703-486: The airport's operations. China Express Airlines was previously headquartered on the grounds of Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport. A metro station, Longdongbao International Airport station on Line 2 (Guiyang Metro) serves the airport. The airport is served by Longdongbao railway station , situated underneath the airport. Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in
10842-408: The amount of cold low-pressure air they accelerate, using some of the energy normally used to accelerate hot air in the classic non-bypass turbojet. The ultimate expression of this design is the turboprop , where almost all of the jet thrust is used to power a very large fan – the propeller . The efficiency curve of the fan design means that the amount of bypass that maximizes overall engine efficiency
10981-572: The basis of Hawker Siddeley 's designs. By the early 1960s, the designs had progressed to the point where the go-ahead for production was given, but costs were so high that the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Sud Aviation eventually merged their efforts in 1962 to produce Concorde. In the early 1960s, various executives of US aerospace companies were telling the US public and Congress that there were no technical reasons an SST could not be produced. In April 1960, Burt C Monesmith,
11120-538: The capability of reducing the boom by about half. Even lengthening the vehicle (without significantly increasing the weight) would seem to reduce the boom intensity (see Sonic boom § Abatement ). When it comes to public policy, for example, the FAA prohibits commercial airplanes from flying at supersonic speeds above sovereign land governed by the United States because of the negative impact the sonic boom brings to humans and animal populations below. The aerodynamic design of
11259-462: The ceremonial 747 contract-signing banquet in Seattle on Boeing's 50th Anniversary, Juan Trippe predicted that the 747 would be "…a great weapon for peace, competing with intercontinental missiles for mankind's destiny". As launch customer, and because of its early involvement before placing a formal order, Pan Am was able to influence the design and development of the 747 to an extent unmatched by
11398-471: The concept but was committed to developing the engine for the C-5 Galaxy and did not enter the commercial market until later. Pratt & Whitney was also working on the same principle and, by late 1966, Boeing, Pan Am and Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop a new engine, designated the JT9D to power the 747. The project was designed with a new methodology called fault tree analysis , which allowed
11537-475: The device allowed pilots to practice taxi maneuvers from a high upper-deck position. In 1968, the program cost was US$ 1 billion (equivalent to $ 6.7 billion in 2023 dollars). On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the Everett assembly building before the world's press and representatives of the 26 airlines that had ordered the airliner. Over the following months, preparations were made for
11676-412: The early 747 sales were to airlines desiring the aircraft's long range rather than its payload capacity. While the 747 had the lowest potential operating cost per seat, this could only be achieved when the aircraft was fully loaded; costs per seat increased rapidly as occupancy declined. A moderately loaded 747, one with only 70 percent of its seats occupied, used more than 95 percent of the fuel needed by
11815-490: The effects of a failure of a single part to be studied to determine its impact on other systems. To address concerns about safety and flyability, the 747's design included structural redundancy, redundant hydraulic systems, quadruple main landing gear and dual control surfaces. Additionally, some of the most advanced high-lift devices used in the industry were included in the new design, to allow it to operate from existing airports. These included Krueger flaps running almost
11954-742: The effort before it yields any marketable SST technology, causing potentially all investment to be lost. The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) estimates a SST would burn 5 to 7 times as much fuel per passenger. The ICCT shows that a New York to London supersonic flight would consume more than twice as much fuel per passenger than in subsonic business-class , six times as much as for economy class , and three times as much as subsonic business for Los Angeles to Sydney. Designers can either meet existing environmental standards with advanced technology or lobby policymakers to establish new standards for SSTs. If there were 2,000 SSTs in 2035, there would be 5,000 flights per day at 160 airports and
12093-425: The empennage. As Boeing did not have a plant large enough to assemble the giant airliner, they chose to build a new plant. The company considered locations in about 50 cities, and eventually decided to build the new plant some 30 miles (50 km) north of Seattle on a site adjoining a military base at Paine Field near Everett , Washington. It bought the 780-acre (320 ha) site in June 1966. Developing
12232-403: The entire length of the fuselage were rejected. The first 747-300, completed in 1983, included a stretched upper deck, increased cruise speed, and increased seating capacity. The -300 variant was previously designated 747SUD for stretched upper deck, then 747-200 SUD, followed by 747EUD, before the 747-300 designation was used. Passenger, short range and combination freighter-passenger versions of
12371-409: The entire length of the wing's leading edge, as well as complex three-part slotted flaps along the trailing edge of the wing. The wing's complex three-part flaps increase wing area by 21% and lift by 90% when fully deployed compared to their non-deployed configuration. Boeing agreed to deliver the first 747 to Pan Am by the end of 1969. The delivery date left 28 months to design the aircraft, which
12510-461: The environment and sustainability, two growing concerns of the general public, including air travelers.) Investing in research and development work to design a new SST can be considered as an effort to push the speed limit of air transport. Generally, other than an urge for new technological achievement, the major driving force for such an effort is competitive pressure from other modes of transport. Competition between different service providers within
12649-486: The evacuation of 560 volunteers from a cabin mock-up via the aircraft's emergency chutes. The first full-scale evacuation took two and a half minutes instead of the maximum of 90 seconds mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and several volunteers were injured. Subsequent test evacuations achieved the 90-second goal but caused more injuries. Most problematic was evacuation from
12788-504: The events of an emergency if they cannot do so through the cabin. The 747's maximum takeoff weight ranges from 735,000 pounds (333 t) for the -100 to 970,000 pounds (440 t) for the -8. Its range has increased from 5,300 nautical miles (9,800 km; 6,100 mi) on the -100 to 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) on the -8I. The 747 has redundant structures along with four redundant hydraulic systems and four main landing gears each with four wheels; these provide
12927-454: The fan concept is difficult to use at supersonic speeds where the "proper" bypass is about 0.45, as opposed to 2.0 or higher for subsonic designs. For both of these reasons the SST designs were doomed by higher operational costs, and the AST programs vanished by the early 1980s. Concorde only sold to British Airways and Air France, with subsidized purchases that were to return 80% of the profits to
13066-529: The first 747 was rolled out of the custom-built Everett Plant , the world's largest building by volume . The 747's first flight took place on February 9, 1969, and the 747 was certified in December of that year. It entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970. The 747 was the first airplane called a " Jumbo Jet " as the first wide-body airliner. The 747 is a four-engined jet aircraft , initially powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engines, then General Electric CF6 and Rolls-Royce RB211 engines for
13205-433: The first flight, which took place on February 9, 1969, with test pilots Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle at the controls and Jess Wallick at the flight engineer's station. Despite a minor problem with one of the flaps, the flight confirmed that the 747 handled extremely well. The 747 was found to be largely immune to " Dutch roll ", a phenomenon that had been a major hazard to the early swept-wing jets. During later stages of
13344-410: The first time. Finally, in December 1969, the 747 received its FAA airworthiness certificate , clearing it for introduction into service. The huge cost of developing the 747 and building the Everett factory meant that Boeing had to borrow heavily from a banking syndicate. During the final months before delivery of the first aircraft, the company had to repeatedly request additional funding to complete
13483-411: The flight by more than six hours to the following day when Clipper Victor (registration N736PA) was used. The 747 enjoyed a fairly smooth introduction into service, overcoming concerns that some airports would not be able to accommodate an aircraft that large. Although technical problems occurred, they were relatively minor and quickly solved. After the initial 747-100, Boeing developed the -100B ,
13622-431: The flight deck out of the way for freight loading had the pilots below the passengers, and was dubbed the "anteater".) One of the principal technologies that enabled an aircraft as large as the 747 to be drawn up was the high-bypass turbofan engine . This engine technology was thought to be capable of delivering double the power of the earlier turbojets while consuming one-third less fuel. General Electric had pioneered
13761-541: The flight test program, flutter testing showed that the wings suffered oscillation under certain conditions. This difficulty was partly solved by reducing the stiffness of some wing components. However, a particularly severe high-speed flutter problem was solved only by inserting depleted uranium counterweights as ballast in the outboard engine nacelles of the early 747s. This measure caused some concern when these aircraft crashed, for example El Al Flight 1862 at Amsterdam in 1992 with 622 pounds (282 kg) of uranium in
13900-500: The front and rear. The desire to keep the number of engines to four required new engine designs with greatly increased power and better fuel economy. In May 1964, airframe proposals arrived from Boeing, Douglas , General Dynamics , Lockheed , and Martin Marietta ; engine proposals were submitted by General Electric , Curtiss-Wright , and Pratt & Whitney . Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed were given additional study contracts for
14039-441: The fuel of the [Concorde]" would essentially eliminate the hypothesized 1%–2% ozone-destruction-reaction-pathway. Despite the model-observation discrepancy surrounding the ozone concern, in the mid-1970s, six years after its first supersonic test flight, Concorde was now ready for service. The US political outcry was so high that New York banned the plane. This threatened the aircraft's economic prospects — it had been built with
14178-464: The fuselage was redesigned to fit mating fuselage sections. The SP's flaps used a simplified single-slotted configuration. The 747SP, compared to earlier variants, had a tapering of the aft upper fuselage into the empennage , a double-hinged rudder, and longer vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Power was provided by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7(A/F/J/FW) or Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines. Supersonic transport A supersonic transport ( SST ) or
14317-424: The government. In practice for almost all of the length of the arrangement, there was no profit to be shared. After Concorde was privatized, cost reduction measures (notably the closing of the metallurgical wing testing site which had done enough temperature cycles to validate the aircraft through to 2010) and ticket price raises led to substantial profits. Since Concorde stopped flying, it has been revealed that over
14456-562: The heaviest versions of the A340 until surpassing the 747 in size with the A380 , delivered between 2007 and 2021. Freighter variants of the 747 remain popular with cargo airlines. The final 747 was delivered to Atlas Air in January 2023 after a 54-year production run, with 1,574 aircraft built. As of December 2023 , 64 Boeing 747s (4.1%) have been lost in accidents and incidents , in which
14595-557: The increased space required for such a feature produced capacity problems that proved ultimately insurmountable. North American Aviation had an unusual approach to this problem with the XB-70 Valkyrie . By lowering the outer panels of the wings at high Mach numbers, they were able to take advantage of compression lift on the underside of the aircraft. This improved the L/D ratio by about 30%. Aircraft are surrounded by an air layer
14734-407: The intensity of the boom can be reduced, then this may make even very large designs of supersonic aircraft acceptable for overland flight. Research suggests that changes to the nose cone and tail can reduce the intensity of the sonic boom below that needed to cause complaints. During the original SST efforts in the 1960s, it was suggested that careful shaping of the fuselage of the aircraft could reduce
14873-422: The intensity of the sonic boom's shock waves that reach the ground. One design caused the shock waves to interfere with each other, greatly reducing the sonic boom. This was difficult to test at the time, but the increasing power of computer-aided design has since made this considerably easier. In 2003, a Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration aircraft was flown which proved the soundness of the design and demonstrated
15012-617: The life of Concorde, the plane did prove profitable, at least to British Airways. Concorde operating costs over nearly 28 years of operation were approximately £1 billion, with revenues of £1.75 billion. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crashed shortly after take-off with all 109 occupants and four on ground killed; the only fatal incident involving Concorde . Commercial service was suspended until November 2001, and Concorde aircraft were retired in 2003 after 27 years of commercial operations. The last regular passenger flights landed at London Heathrow on October 24, 2003, from New York ,
15151-466: The main deck, the cockpit creates a hump. This raised cockpit allows front loading of cargo on freight variants. The upper deck behind the cockpit provides space for a lounge and/or extra seating. The "stretched upper deck" became available as an alternative on the 747-100B variant and later as standard beginning on the 747-300. The upper deck was stretched more on the 747-8. The 747 cockpit roof section also has an escape hatch from which crew can exit during
15290-549: The model number 747. Sutter began a design study with Pan Am and other airlines to better understand their requirements. At the time, many thought that long-range subsonic airliners would eventually be superseded by supersonic transport aircraft. Boeing responded by designing the 747 so it could be adapted easily to carry freight and remain in production even if sales of the passenger version declined. In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft for US$ 525 million (equivalent to $ 3.8 billion in 2023 dollars). During
15429-417: The new configuration. The -100 was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT9D -3A engines. No freighter version of this model was developed, but many 747-100s were converted into freighters as 747-100(SF). The first 747-100(SF) was delivered to Flying Tiger Line in 1974. A total of 168 747-100s were built; 167 were delivered to customers, while Boeing kept the prototype, City of Everett . In 1972, its unit cost
15568-446: The nose door and raised cockpit concepts over to the design of the 747. The 747 was conceived while air travel was increasing in the 1960s. The era of commercial jet transportation, led by the enormous popularity of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 , had revolutionized long-distance travel. In this growing jet age, Juan Trippe , president of Pan American Airways (Pan Am), one of Boeing's most important airline customers, asked for
15707-446: The original -100, the -100B was offered with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A, CF6-50, or Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines. However, only RB211-524 (Saudia) and JT9D-7A (Iran Air) engines were ordered. The last 747-100B, EP-IAM was retired by Iran Air in 2014, the last commercial operator of the 747-100 and -100B. The development of the 747SP stemmed from a joint request between Pan American World Airways and Iran Air , who were looking for
15846-433: The original variants. With a ten-abreast economy seating, it typically accommodates 366 passengers in three travel classes . It has a pronounced 37.5° wing sweep , allowing a Mach 0.85 (490 kn; 900 km/h) cruise speed , and its heavy weight is supported by four main landing gear legs, each with a four-wheel bogie . The partial double-deck aircraft was designed with a raised cockpit so it could be converted to
15985-610: The potential termination of 747 production due to insufficient demand and market for the aircraft. With a firm order backlog of 21 aircraft and a production rate of six per year, program accounting had been reduced to 1,555 aircraft. In October 2016, UPS Airlines ordered 14 -8Fs to add capacity, along with 14 options, which it took in February 2018 to increase the total to 28 -8Fs on order. The backlog then stood at 25 aircraft, though several of these were orders from airlines that no longer intended to take delivery. On July 2, 2020, it
16124-453: The practice. SST engines need a fairly high specific thrust (net thrust/airflow) during supersonic cruise, to minimize engine cross-sectional area and, thereby, nacelle drag. Unfortunately this implies a high jet velocity, which makes the engines noisy, particularly at low speeds/altitudes and at take-off. Therefore, a future SST might well benefit from a variable cycle engine , where the specific thrust (and therefore jet velocity and noise)
16263-401: The presence of Pan Am chairman Najeeb Halaby . Instead of champagne, red, white, and blue water was sprayed on the aircraft. The 747 entered service on January 22, 1970, on Pan Am's New York–London route; the flight had been planned for the evening of January 21, but engine overheating made the original aircraft (Clipper Young America, registration N735PA) unusable. Finding a substitute delayed
16402-426: The production line on December 6, 2022, and was delivered on January 31, 2023. Boeing hosted an event at the Everett factory for thousands of workers as well as industry executives to commemorate the delivery. The Boeing 747 is a large, wide-body (two-aisle) airliner with four wing-mounted engines. Its wings have a high sweep angle of 37.5° for a fast, efficient cruise speed of Mach 0.84 to 0.88, depending on
16541-496: The project. Had this been refused, Boeing's survival would have been threatened. The firm's debt exceeded $ 2 billion, with the $ 1.2 billion owed to the banks setting a record for all companies. Allen later said, "It was really too large a project for us." Ultimately, the gamble succeeded, and Boeing held a monopoly in very large passenger aircraft production for many years. On January 15, 1970, First Lady Pat Nixon christened Pan Am's first 747 at Dulles International Airport in
16680-566: The same size, with more than 300 operations per day at Dubai and London Heathrow , and over 100 in Los Angeles , Singapore , San Francisco , New York-JFK , Frankfurt , and Bangkok . Frequent sonic booms would be heard in Canada, Germany, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Romania, Turkey, and parts of the United States, up to 150–200 per day or one every five minutes. On August 21, 1961, a Douglas DC-8-43 (registration N9604Z) exceeded Mach 1 in
16819-430: The standard 747. The initial 747SR model, the -100SR, had a strengthened body structure and landing gear to accommodate the added stress accumulated from a greater number of takeoffs and landings. Extra structural support was built into the wings, fuselage, and the landing gear along with a 20% reduction in fuel capacity. The initial order for the -100SR – four aircraft for Japan Air Lines (JAL, later Japan Airlines ) –
16958-591: The temperature of which increases with aircraft speed. As a result the skin of the aircraft gets hotter with increasing supersonic speeds (kinetic heating from the high speed boundary layer ). Heat from the sun also raises the skin temperature. Heat transfers into the aircraft structure which also gets hotter. By the early 1960s many investigations in the United States, Britain and France had shown equilibrium skin temperatures varying from 130 degC at Mach 2.2 to 330 degC at Mach 3. Subsonic aircraft are usually made of aluminium. However aluminium, while being light and strong,
17097-724: The termination of flying by Concorde, there have been no SSTs in commercial service. However, several companies have proposed supersonic business jet designs. Small SSTs have less environmental impact and design capability improves with continuing research which is aimed at producing an acceptable aircraft. Supersonic airliners have been the objects of numerous recent ongoing design studies. Drawbacks and design challenges are excessive noise generation (at takeoff and due to sonic booms during flight), high development costs, expensive construction materials, high fuel consumption, extremely high emissions, and an increased cost per seat over subsonic airliners. However, despite these challenges, Concorde
17236-429: The thrust, leading to considerably greater fuel use. This effect is pronounced at speeds close to the speed of sound, as the aircraft is using twice the thrust to travel at about the same speed. The relative effect is reduced as the aircraft accelerates to higher speeds. Offsetting this increase in fuel use was the potential to greatly increase sortie rates of the aircraft, at least on medium and long-range flights where
17375-434: The turbine casings after a short period of service. The problems delayed 747 deliveries for several months; up to 20 aircraft at the Everett plant were stranded while awaiting engine installation. The program was further delayed when one of the five test aircraft suffered serious damage during a landing attempt at Renton Municipal Airport , the site of Boeing's Renton factory . The incident happened on December 13, 1969, when
17514-422: The variant. The sweep also reduces the wingspan, allowing the 747 to use existing hangars . Its seating capacity is over 366 with a 3–4–3 seat arrangement (a cross section of three seats, an aisle, four seats, another aisle, and three seats) in economy class and a 2–3–2 layout in first class on the main deck. The upper deck has a 3–3 seat arrangement in economy class and a 2–2 layout in first class. Raised above
17653-476: The world, both to Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus . No 747s were sold to any American carrier for almost three years. When economic problems in the US and other countries after the 1973 oil crisis led to reduced passenger traffic, several airlines found they did not have enough passengers to fly the 747 economically, and they replaced them with the smaller and recently introduced McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar trijet wide bodies (and later
17792-540: Was US$ 24M (174.8M today). Responding to requests from Japanese airlines for a high-capacity aircraft to serve domestic routes between major cities, Boeing developed the 747SR as a short-range version of the 747-100 with lower fuel capacity and greater payload capability. With increased economy class seating, up to 498 passengers could be carried in early versions and up to 550 in later models. The 747SR had an economic design life objective of 52,000 flights during 20 years of operation, compared to 24,600 flights in 20 years for
17931-440: Was actually very successful, and was able to sustain a higher ticket price. Now that commercial SST aircraft have stopped flying, it has become clearer that Concorde made substantial profit for British Airways. Extreme jet velocities used during take-off caused Concorde and Tu-144s to produce significant take-off noise. Communities near the airport were affected by high engine noise levels, which prompted some regulators to disfavor
18070-459: Was announced on October 30, 1972; rollout occurred on August 3, 1973, and the first flight took place on August 31, 1973. The type was certified by the FAA on September 26, 1973, with the first delivery on the same day. The -100SR entered service with JAL, the type's sole customer, on October 7, 1973, and typically operated flights within Japan. Seven -100SRs were built between 1973 and 1975, each with
18209-440: Was claimed to have operated profitably. Throughout the 1950s an SST looked possible from a technical standpoint, but it was not clear if it could be made economically viable. Because of differences in lift generation, aircraft operating at supersonic speeds have approximately one-half the lift-to-drag ratio of subsonic aircraft. This implies that for any given required amount of lift, the aircraft will have to supply about twice
18348-676: Was first delivered in October 2011. The 747 is the basis for several government and military variants, such as the VC-25 ( Air Force One ), E-4 Emergency Airborne Command Post, Shuttle Carrier Aircraft , and some experimental test aircraft such as the YAL-1 and SOFIA airborne observatory. Initial competition came from the smaller trijet widebodies: the Lockheed L-1011 (introduced in 1972), McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (1971) and later MD-11 (1990). Airbus competed with later variants with
18487-645: Was much less efficient than Concorde's turbojets in supersonic flight. The later TU-144D featured turbojet engines with comparable efficiency. These limitations meant that SST designs were not able to take advantage of the dramatic improvements in fuel economy that high bypass engines brought to the subsonic market, but they were already more efficient than their subsonic turbofan counterparts. Supersonic vehicle speeds demand narrower wing and fuselage designs, and are subject to greater stresses and temperatures. This leads to aeroelasticity problems, which require heavier structures to minimize unwanted flexing. SSTs also require
18626-563: Was reported that Boeing planned to end 747 production in 2022 upon delivery of the remaining jets on order to UPS and the Volga-Dnepr Group due to low demand. On July 29, 2020, Boeing confirmed that the final 747 would be delivered in 2022 as a result of "current market dynamics and outlook" stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic , according to CEO David Calhoun. The last aircraft, a 747-8F for Atlas Air registered N863GT, rolled off
18765-521: Was shortened for the longer-range 747SP in 1976, and the 747-300 followed in 1983 with a stretched upper deck for up to 400 seats in three classes. The heavier 747-400 with improved RB211 and CF6 engines or the new PW4000 engine (the JT9D successor), and a two-crew glass cockpit , was introduced in 1989 and is the most common variant. After several studies, the stretched 747-8 was launched on November 14, 2005, with new General Electric GEnx engines, and
18904-409: Was so short that the 747's full-scale mock-up was built before the factory roof above it was finished. The plant is the largest building by volume ever built, and has been substantially expanded several times to permit construction of other models of Boeing wide-body commercial jets. Before the first 747 was fully assembled, testing began on many components and systems. One important test involved
19043-447: Was the 22nd busiest airport in mainland China , with 18,109,610 passengers. In 2010, Guiyang Airport exceeded its design capacity of 5 million passengers per year. An airport expansion project, with a total investment of about 3.4 billion yuan, was authorized and started in September 2010. The aim was to take the total annual passenger capacity to 15.5 million and the cargo traffic to 220 thousand tons per year. Hainan Airlines began
19182-606: Was two-thirds of the normal time. The schedule was so fast-paced that the people who worked on it were given the nickname "The Incredibles". Developing the aircraft was such a technical and financial challenge that management was said to have "bet the company" when it started the project. Due to its massive size, Boeing subcontracted the assembly of subcomponents to other manufacturers, most notably Northrop and Grumman (later merged into Northrop Grumman in 1994) for fuselage parts and trailing edge flaps respectively, Fairchild for tailplane ailerons, and Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) for
19321-656: Was unable to attract enough interest to enter production. A year later, Boeing switched from the 747X studies to pursue the Sonic Cruiser , and after the Sonic Cruiser program was put on hold, the 787 Dreamliner . Some of the ideas developed for the 747X were used on the 747-400ER , a longer range variant of the 747-400. After several variants were proposed but later abandoned, some industry observers became skeptical of new aircraft proposals from Boeing. However, in early 2004, Boeing announced tentative plans for
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