The King of Heaven: The World’s Longest Leading Plane, Measuring Over 76 Meters

[Article déjà publié le 1er juillet 2024]

It was a small event. On Sunday June 30, 2024, Nice airport hosted a very special plane: the Emirate's Boeing 747-8. It is no more and less the longest commercial aircraft in the world.

The Boeing 747-8, a gigantic plane

The Antonov AN-225 Myria is a celestial monster out of category which dominates all the other planes ever built by its dimensions. The Boeing 747-8 is the length champion in line planes.

Indeed, based on the data of the Lufthansa site, here are the dimensions of this elongated model:

• 76.3 meters in length
• 68.4 meters wide
• 19.4 meters high

The Boeing 747-8 exceeds almost five meters its predecessor, the Boeing 747-400, which measures:

• 70.66 meters in length
• 64.44 meters wide
• 19.4 meters in height

Yet although he is the length champion, this gigantic plane is less wide by 10 meters compared to the A380-800, one of the flagships of French aviation, and it is also smaller. Indeed, the French aircraft has a length of 72.73 meters, a wingspan of 79.8 meters and a height of 24.1 meters.

The Boeing 747-8 is nonetheless long.

A legendary story

The story of the iconic Boeing 747 begins on February 9, 1969 when he made his very first flight. Recognizable between a thousand thanks to his “bump” in terms of her head, this legendary plane was nicknamed “Queen of Heaven” or “Jumbo Jet”. Two little names forever relected in the history of aviation.

The Safran site specifies that as soon as it leaves, the Boeing 747 is an anomaly in the world of aeronautics. With its double bridge and two corridors, it was very different from the other models present on the market.

For almost 40 years, he was also the plane that could accommodate the most passengers on board. Indeed, from 1969 to 2007, during each flight, on the Boeing 747-400 and the Boeing 747-800, we could count 410 passengers, at least, by flight. It has been exceeded since the appearance of 2007 by the Airbus A380-800 capable of transporting at least 500.

But if the Boeing 747 is also known and recognized internationally, it is also because it is the model of an aircraft carrying someone very important. You will understand, the Boeing 747 also has a unique nickname: Air Force One, the plane of the President of the United States.

A story that lasted between 1969 and 2023 when Boeing delivered its latest copy of its iconic aircraft, on January 31, 2023.

How much is the Boeing 747-8?

First of all, you should know that as a function of the use of the plane, the price will be different. Thus, in the “Fret” or “Freighter” version, understand the transport of goods, it would be necessary to pay according to the echoes, in 2010, between 293 million and $ 308 million.

On the other hand for the passenger transport version, the Boeing 747-8 catalog price, the longest plane in the world would be at least $ 400 million according to an article of Business Insider of March 16, 2024.

In this last paper, it is notably specified that this type of device is mainly used by governments or elites around the world. Thus, for ordinary people, most of the time, the Boeing 747-400 is privileged for journeys.

Which plane will take over from the “queen of heaven”?

If aircraft is no longer produced, it is still in operation and remains one of the safe values ​​on the market for long letters.

But, in recent times the aerospace firm has been plagued by repeated problems on its earthly devices, as well as on their Starliner space capsule. If the Boeing 747 is starting to get older and therefore a few dysfunctions should be noted, the new flagship model of the firm, the Boeing 787, is even more prey to serious problems that can endanger passenger safety.

Lately, many whistleblowers sounded the alarm concerning major security problems on the Boeing 787 as reported by many French and international media. It therefore seems that the Boeing 747, an icon for more than 50 years, does not yet find a successor to its size.