Boeing and airbus provide all the wide bodied jets the world needs.

Boeing 747s,767s,and 777s

type typically have 60-70 percent share of the worldwide market, but airbus accepted a majority
of the new orders in 1994-95 and doubled their output rate from 126 to 232 planes per year.
Some analysts think Boeing should have given up even more of the wide-body order flow
One reason is that until very recently, incremental orders at Boeing necessitated
redrawing and duplicating the thousands of engineering diagrams that determines how 200,000
employees assemble any particular customer's plane. Rather than doing mass customization
from common platforms, Boeing assembles one plane at a time with new drawings for each $150
million wide-body ordered. Eventually, incremental variable costs must rise as designers and
shop floors get congested with new instructions and new diagrams.
With a backorder running almost 1000+ planes company-wide in the mid-1990s , Boeing
boosted production from 180 to 560 commercial jets per year. At the Everett, Washington final
assembly plant form Boeing wide-bodies, just north of Seattle,thruput was increased from 15
planes per month to 21 planes per month-- i.e.,by 40 percent.
To increase production rates this much typically requires splitting bottlenecked assembly
stations into parallel pr0cesses entailing the hiring of additional assembly workers and massive
overtime. Alternatively company like Boeing can secure a 40 percent increase in the production
rate of fixed assembly by contracting out more sub-assemblies. Either splitting bottlenecked
assembly stations or contracting out sub-assemblies substantially increase Boeing's variable
costs.
Int the late 1990ss, wide-body prices did not rise because of intense competitive
pressures from Airbus,, but Boeing's marginal cost certainly did. As a result , for a while in late
1993s, every Boeing 747 plane delivered had a price less than its marginal cost- i.e. ,a negative
gross profit margin. Of course,eventually such orders must be refused,in 2000,Boeing did slow
the production thruput rate at Everett back to 15 wide-bodied per month in order to return the
wide-body product lines to profitability. Today , the well-equipped 747-400 aircraft earns as
much as $45 million operating profit above variable cost.
The Rise and Decline of the Boeing 747-400
25 years ago on 21
st
April 1988, the Boeing 747-400 made its first flight and in doing so,
brought new technology, improved efficiency and longer range to the long-haul high-capacity
airline market. Since then, the 747-400 has been the predominant equipment of the global airline
market, but after its 25 year reign its time is coming to an end as it is rapidly being phased out
in favour of long-haul wide-body twins and the Airbus A380.
Genesis
In the 1960s, the long-haul equipment of choice for most airlines were the narrow-bodied Boeing
707-320 or Douglas DC-8. Boeing, Douglas and Lockheed pitched for a contract to provide a
large strategic airlift aeroplane (Heavy Logistics System) to the U.S. Air Force which
Lockheed won with their C-5A Galaxy, primarily based on offering the lowest price. Concurrent
with this military aircraft design and development effort, Boeing started working on a high-
capacity wide-bodied airliner, driven primarily by requirements from Pan Am. At the time, it
was felt that such an aeroplane would be rapidly superseded by supersonic transports, so the
Boeing 747 was designed with subsequent conversion to freight-carrying in mind hence the
iconic flight deck hump that allowed cargo containers to be loaded along the full length of the
main deck. The early 747 models were somewhat more successful than Boeing expected, and
helped to drive the huge growth in long-haul air travel in the 1970s. But the original 747 didnt
bring with it any significant new technology changes essentially it was a much enlarged Boeing
707 in which the primary technology advance was the large high-bypass ratio turbofan engines
needed to power it. Whilst Boeing tweaked the original 747-100 design over the years to offer
the 747SP, the 747-200 and 747-300, a fall-off in orders for the 747 classic and advancing
technology drove Boeing to offer an Advanced 747-300 to airlines in 1985.
The 747-400 is born
The Advanced 747-300 (the 747-400 as it would become) had several major design targets
1000 miles more range, improved efficiency and a 10% reduction in operating costs. Working
with a consortium of advisory airlines that included British Airways, Cathay Pacific, KLM,
Lufthansa, Northwest, Qantas and Singapore Airlines, Boeing tuned the 747-400 to offer airlines
significant number of improvements over the older 747 models it was to largely replace:
The wingspan of the basic 747 was increased by 17 feet and six-foot tall aerodynamic
drag reducing winglets were added to the wingtips, offering a 3% improvement in cruise
performance and a reduction in take off
A two crew glass CRT-based cockpit was introduced (based on Boeing experience with
the 757 and 767) allowing the Flight Engineers position to be eliminated and an improved flight
management system (FMC) optimised cruise performance
A 3,300 gallon fuel tank was installed in the horizontal stabiliser to increase range
Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) managed Pratt and Whitney, General
Electric or Rolls Royce high-bypass ratio turbofans offered higher thrust and lower fuel
consumption
The 747-400 airframe was lighter and stronger than its predecessors when empty, but
heavier when fitted out
Improved passenger entertainment and cabin announcement systems were introduced,
and a crew rest area was made available above the rear of the passenger compartment. Cabin
interiors walls, overhead luggage bins and galleys were also improved
The icon lengthened upper deck that was introduced with the 747-300 was standard on
all 747-400 models except the freighter derivative
Boeing started to assemble the first 747-400 in September 1987 and it flew for the first time on
21
st
April 1988 when the aeroplane departed from Paine Field at Everett and after almost two
and a half hours landed at Boeing Field in Seattle. By the time of the first flight, Boeing already
held over 100 orders for the 747-400. Four aircraft undertook the development flying, allowing
Boeing to work towards certification of the airframe with each of the three engine manufacturers
concurrently. After a year of test flying, the Boeing 747-400 was granted its airworthiness type
certificate firstly with Pratt and Whitney PW4056 engines in January 1989, then with General
Electric CF6-80 engines in May 1989 and finally with Rolls Royce RB211-524 engines in June
1989.

View of the economy cabin on a Thai Boeing 747-400
Service life
Northwest Airlines was the first to put the 747-400 into service, with their inaugural service
operating between Minneapolis and Phoenix on February 9
th
1989, exactly twenty years since
the first original 747-100 first flew. Singapore Airlines flew the 747-400s first international
service, introducing the type on their Singapore-London route at the end of May 1989. A glitch
in the delivery program occurred when the European Joint Airworthiness Authority initially
refused to certify the 747-400 due to concerns over upper deck floor strength in the event of a
sudden decompression, but these issues were dealt with through an exemption and agreement on
subsequent refit just before European launch customer KLM put the type into service.
694 aircraft were produced during the 747-400s production run, which came to an end in 2009
twenty years after the type first entered revenue service. During those twenty years, Boeing
produced 448 passenger 747-400s, 19 747-400Ds for the Japanese domestic market, 61 747-
400M combis (combined passenger / freight aircraft with a cargo door in the upper deck rear
fuselage), and 166 747-400 freighters. Six of the passenger aircraft and 40 of the freighters were
747-400ERs improved versions offering either 500 miles more range or increased payload over
non-ER aircraft.
The 747-400 was superseded in production by the 747-8, which again offered significant
performance and efficiency improvements over previous versions. The 747-8 included more
efficient engines and a stretched fuselage which allowed airlines the opportunity to install more
seats and increase payload, but to date the type has failed to capture a significant share of the
very large aircraft (VLA) market which is now dominated by the A380.
The drawdown of the 747-400 fleet
Two major changes have resulted in the 747-400 slowly disappearing from passenger airline
fleets. Firstly, Boeings own 777, especially the 777-300ER, captured a large share of the
market the 777-300ER could carry almost as many passengers almost as far as a 747-400, and
do so with only two engines and much improved efficiency. And secondly, some airlines wanted
greater capacity and were drawn to the larger A380. Added to this, a number of early 747-400
airframes used by major airlines have already reached the end of their airframe lives. Leading
747-400 operators such as Japan Air Lines, Qantas and Singapore Airlines have either retired
the type entirely or significantly reduced the number in their fleets favour of 777s and A380s. A
few airlines such as British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa and United maintain large fleets of 747-
400s, but in many cases retirement of these airframes is already planned as a result of future
Boeing 777, 787, Airbus A380 or Airbus A350 deliveries. Its likely that by the time the 747-
400s 30
th
anniversary arrives in 2018, relatively few will be in front-line passenger service.
It is perhaps ironic that one of Boeings original design objectives that the 747 could easily be
converted to a freighter once supersonic airlines entered service has finally come to fruition
with the 747-400, albeit not as a result of supersonic air travel. Over the last ten years, a
significant number of former passenger 747-400s have been converted into cargo aeroplanes by
having their passenger interiors removed, floors strengthened, and a large cargo door installed in
the rear fuselage. These aeroplanes thus become either Boeing 747-400BCFs (when converted
by Boeing and its partners) or 747-400BDSFs (when converted by Bedek in Israel), and are now
used by a wide variety of all-cargo airlines and the cargo divisions of passenger airlines to
supplement new-build 747-400 freighters.
Thus, twenty five years after first flight the 747-400 will live on it may not be the Queen of
the skies anymore as far as passenger airlines are concerned, but the cargo variants are likely
be a feature of the worlds airports for a decade or two to come.