Apart from being environment friendly and saving on fuel, the new Boeing 747-8 Jumbo Jet that touched down in New Delhi on August 7 from Frankfurt, carries the distinction of having been designed and crafted based on the feedback from the customers through various surveys.
Not only is the new Business Class, specially created for Lufthansa airlines, state of the art, but even the economy class has been re-designed to meet the changing requirements of passengers travelling by air. The renowned British design agency, Pearson Lloyd, is responsible for the ultra modern design. The new business class seats offer the advantage of sleeping position and can be fully extended to a length of 1.98 metres. The economy class has new slim seats offering more leg space between the rows, making it more comfortable for the passengers.
According to Axel Hilgers, Director South Asia, Lufthansa, all the experience from previous seat programmes flowed into the new development, and the complete seat system was deliberately simplified. Lufthansa alone is investing around 3 billion Euros for enhancing its in-house products inside the aircrafts it operates. The engines of the latest generation enable 10 tonne more payload than the Boeing 747-400, increasing the range of new jumbo Jet to 12,500 to 15,000 Km. (the increase in this range enables) transportation of more passengers and freight with a similar range, potentially making the aircraft more economical than the one used earlier.
The low pollution jet engines use less of fuel and achieve a clear improvement of 15 per cent on fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions per passenger. The noise emission is almost 30 per cent below than that of Boeing 747-400, and thus, as quiet as the Airbus A-380 which is known for being a quiet aircraft. In the Boeing 747-8, traditional technology has been combined with the latest knowledge and materials from the high tech world to create a product to reckoning with in the aerospace industry.
