Boeing says 747-8 freighter to make first flight

BOEING Co's giant 747-8 freighter should make its first flight today after performing well on taxi tests and reaching a top speed of about 166.5 kph), the company said.

At 76m long, the plane is the largest Boeing has ever built and about 5.5m longer than the existing 747-400 jumbo jet. The company conducted taxi tests on the freighter Saturday at Paine Field in Everett, north of Seattle.

"Based on early indications, the airplane is ready to fly," said Mo Yahyavi, the 747 programme's vice president and general manager.

Boeing also is developing a passenger version of the plane. It lists 76 orders for the freighter and 32 for the 747-8 passenger jet, with the vast majority from international customers. The company says the jets will be much quieter, more fuel efficient and have lower emissions than current 747-400 models.

Boeing launched the freighter programme on Nov 14, 2005, with firm orders for 10 planes from Cargolux of Luxembourg and eight from Nippon Cargo Airlines of Japan. The jet has a list price of more than US$301 million, though airlines commonly negotiate discounts.

After completing the test programme, the first freighter will be refitted and delivered to Cargolux.

Boeing's European rival Airbus had planned a freighter version of the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet. However, that programme was put on hold in 2005 after FedEx Corp and UPS Inc cancelled their orders, leaving Airbus with an empty order book for the cargo plane.

The freighter version is to enter service late this year. The first delivery was to have been in late 2009 and the first passenger version in late 2010, but Boeing pushed back the dates due to design changes, limited engineering resources and an eight-week strike that shut down factories.AP