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New Boeing 747-8 Freighter Certified For Entry Into Service

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 (Bernama) -- Boeing received U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification on August 19 for the new 747-8 Freighter, passing two of the final landmarks on the airplane s journey to entry into service.

The FAA granted Boeing an Amended Type Certificate (ATC) and an Amended Production Certificate for the 747-8 Freighter, while the EASA also granted the company an ATC for the airplane.

With these certificates, the program is in the final stages of preparing to deliver the first 747-8 Freighter to launch customer Cargolux in early September.

The Amended Type Certificate acknowledges that the FAA and EASA have certified that the design of the 747-8 Freighter is compliant with all aviation regulatory requirements and will produce a safe and reliable airplane.

The airplane logged more than 3,400 hours of flight testing and many thousands more of ground, part, component, materials and other testing on the road to certification.

The Amended Production Certificate shows the FAA has validated that the Boeing 747 production system can reliably produce airplanes that will conform to the airplane s design.

EASA accepts FAA oversight of Boeing production certificates as sufficient for its regulations, as FAA accepts EASA oversight of European manufacturers production certificates.

The 747-8 Freighter is the new high-capacity 747 that will give cargo operators the lowest operating costs and best economics of any freighter airplane while providing enhanced environmental performance.

It is 250 feet, 2 inches (76.3 m) long, which is 18 feet and 4 inches (5.6 m) longer than the 747-400 Freighter.

The stretch provides customers with 16 percent more revenue cargo volume compared to its predecessor.

That translates to four additional main-deck pallets and three additional lower-hold pallets.

The 747-8 Freighters will be powered with GE's GEnx-2B engines.