Mr Pratt added that high fuel costs had hurt Cathay's profitability, especially on long-haul routes, which it said were dominated by "older, less fuel-efficient, Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340-300 aircraft".
Over the years the company has been called upon to design bespoke interiors for aircraft including the BBJs and CJs, and widebody aircraft including the Lockheed L1011 Tristar, Airbus A340-600 and Boeing 747-400.
Negotiations are on-going, but the airlines have already agreed to commit 10 Boeing 747-400 freighters to the venture, according to Reuters.
Most famous of these, of course is Air Force One, the official jet transport -- though actually there are two Air Force Ones, both modified Boeing 747-400s -- of the President of the United States of America.
Total orders for the Boeing 747-8 stand at a mere 5 in 2012 so far.
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One client is Prince Alwaleed, who now travels in a customized Boeing 747-400 with two throne rooms outfitted by Associated.
Desso wove the uniforms into carpets, which were kitted out on the new World Business Class cabin on KLM's Boeing 747-400 fleet, this July.
That is why air strips from Cheju in Korea to Davao in the Philippines to Medan in Indonesia are busy turning themselves into international airports that can handle giants like the Boeing 747-400.
Dios took possession of the 1976 Boeing 747-200 -- one of 393 built by the company until 1991 -- in June 2007 and by December he had reached agreement with the airport authorities about his unique proposal.
Eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana may have sold her Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet, but the family's fleet of planes included, at least until recently, a DC-10, a blue-and-red Boeing 737, a Canadian Challenger 601 and a BAC-111.
To compete directly with the A380, Boeing's 747-8 uses fuel-efficient engines like the 787 to carry 450 passengers.
Larger than any previous civil aircraft, the A380 is 30 per cent bigger than the current largest jetliner, Boeing's 747-400.
In total, UPS owns 230 jets ranging in size from Boeing 757s to 747-400s, some of which have ferried everything from a whale shark to an iceberg chunk.
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We expect higher earnings from the Boeing 787 and 747-8 (expected to be launched later this year) to be offset by future commercial launch of the Airbus A350, which would compete directly against the 787 in size, range and fuel efficiency, hence keeping EBITDA margin stable.
Endeavour will need to be removed from its perch atop the Boeing 747 that carried it cross-country from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
Europe's Airbus Industrie announced the long-awaited rival to Boeing's 747.
The intended market is city pairs (like Seattle-Paris) big enough to support nonstop service with a smallish jet but not big enough to fill a giant long-distance plane like the Boeing 747 or upcoming Airbus A380.
For Delta, which eliminated international first class years ago, the new herringbone layout yields 48 business-class seats on the Boeing 747, 17 fewer in the same amount of space as the older design, which didn't have horizontal flat beds and direct aisle access for every passenger.
But Boeing tore up this deal in 2004 as Airbus prepared to launch the A380 super-jumbo (to challenge Boeing's 747) and the A350 (to vie with the 777 and 787).
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Airbus will be touting its A380 superjumbo while rival Boeing will be seeking orders for its giant 747-8 and its super-efficient 787 Dreamliner.
All 230 people on board the Boeing 747 were killed when the New York-to-Paris flight exploded and plunged into the Atlantic on July 17.
It envisions a behemoth mother ship with twin, narrow fuselages, featuring six Boeing Co. 747 engines attached to a record 385-foot wingspan, plus a smaller rocket pod nestled underneath.
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The Boeing 747 landed safely shortly before noon ET after its go-around, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Thomas Lee, a 59-year-old Californian, also flew on the maiden commercial flights of the Boeing 747 in 1970 and the Airbus A380 superjumbo in 2007.
Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) has continued to upgrade its 747 in response to the Airbus challenge and with a slight twist brought out its smaller 787 Dreamliner aircraft with an increased fuel-saving design.
Now with his third wife, he is a fitness fanatic, with a penchant for cross-country skiing and also pilots gliders, helicopters, light aircraft and larger jets, including the Boeing 747.
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