The ‘pig’ has too much lipstick…
A Boeing Jumbo jet built for Saudi royalty with only 42 hours of flight has been scrapped in the desert of Arizona after a decade of no buyers.
Germany’s aero TELEGRAPH reported the $280 million Boeing 747-8BBJ was ordered for Saudi crown prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saudi, but he died in late 2011, one year before the jet was delivered to the Saudi Arabian Royal Flight Group.
Since the prince died, the plane never flew and sat in Switzerland for a decade. No buyers ever struck a deal to purchase the jumbo jet outfitted with luxury throughout the cabin.
Full article, HERE from ZeroHedge.
But why, you might ask, don’t they just convert it to a freighter???
Well, it’s not ‘quite’ that easy…
First the specs are different in a VERY important way-
From Airliners.com-
Boeing 747 8 Specs Fuselage Extension.
Now for the tabular specifications.
Note the bolded areas… The biggest is the difference in payload, which is driven by the ‘strength’ of the main deck on the 8f.
Boeing 747 8 Specs Table
| Boeing 747-8i Intercontinental | Boeing 747-8f Freighter | |
| Cockpit Crew | 2 | 2 |
| Average Price | US$378.5 Million | US$379.1 Million |
| Seating Capacity (Maximum) | 605 | N/A |
| Seating Capacity (Three Class) | 467 | N/A |
| Overall Length | 76.25 Metres (250 feet, 2 inches) | 76.25 Metres (250 feet, 2 inches) |
| Wingspan | 68.45 Metres (224 feet, 7 inches) | 68.45 Metres (224 feet, 7 inches) |
| Wing Area | 554 Metres2 (5,963 feet2) | 554 Metres2 (5,963 feet2) |
| Height | 19.35 Metres (63 feet, 6 inches) | 19.35 Metres (63 feet, 6 inches) |
| Cabin Width | 6.1 Metres (20 feet, 1 inch) | 6.1 Metres (20 feet, 1 inch) |
| Maximum Take-off Weight | 447,696 Kilograms (987,000 Pounds) | 447,696 Kilograms (987,000 Pounds) |
| Maximum landing weight | 312,000 Kilograms (688,000 Pounds) | 343,000 Kilograms (757,000 Pounds) |
| Maximum zero fuel weight | 295,000 Kilograms (651,000 Pounds) | 330,000 Kilograms (727,000 Pounds) |
| Operating Empty Weight | 220,128 Kilograms (485,300 Pounds) | 197,131 Kilograms (434,600 Pounds) |
| Maximum structural payload | 76,700 Kilograms (169,100 Pounds) | 134,200 Kilograms (295,800 Pounds) |
| Maximum fuel capacity | 238,610 Litres (63,034 US gallons) | 226,095 Litres (59,734 US gallons) |
| Cruising Speed at 35,000 feet | Mach 0.855 (570 mph, 495 knots, 917 km/h) | Mach 0.845 (564 mph, 490 knots, 908 km/h) |
| Maximum speed at 35,000 feet | Mach 0.92 (614 mph, 533 kn, 988 km/h) | Mach 0.92 (614 mph, 533 kn, 988 km/h) |
| Range | 7,790 nmi (8,966 mi; 14,430 km)at MTOW with 467 passengers and baggage | 4,120 nmi (4,741 mi; 7,630 km) at full payload (134,000 kg(295,800 lb)) |
| Fuel Burn | 11,350 litres/3,000 gallons per hour averaged over a 14 hour flight. | |
| Fuel Type | Kerosene known as Jet-A or Jet A-1(has a slightly lower freezing point.) | |
| Cargo capacity | 161.5 Cubic Metres (5,705 Cubic feet) | 854.5 Cubic Metres (330,177 Cubic feet) |
| Service ceiling | 43,000 ft (13,000 m) | 43,000 ft (13,000 m) |
| Engines (4x) | GEnx-2B67 | GEnx-2B67 |
| Thrust (4x) | 66,500 lbf (296 kN) | 66,500 lbf (296 kN) |
Seems like a waste of a perfectly good airplane. I wonder if they attempted to sell it to one of the companies which cater to flying the rich and famous about in their world wind adventures. Jeffery Epstein (who did not hang himself) type of clientele.
Still though – those parts could definitely make themselves useful to someone.
Perhaps when they’re done scrapping it, they can take two of the four landing wheel assemblies and a twisted part of the nose out to the desert and attach those to a stone plinth, inscribed with the words, “Look on my Purchases, ye Rich, and despair.”
jrg- It’s complicated, to put it mildly… All tied up in Inshallah, etc…
Ag- LOL
Never heard back, but I guess this means my offer of ten bucks was not accepted. Aw, shucks. HOA wouldn’t have allowed me to park it out front anyway.
Being stored in Switzerland means there is a good chance the whole bird was properly mothballed and maintained. A set of engines with only 42 flight hours on them even if they are 10 years old have to be worth a pretty penny to a fleet operator.
Bob- LOL
Rick- Oh yeah! Probably $20M each is ballpark.
$280 Million. And they recoup $80 mil from sale of engines?
Wonder how close they’ll get to recouping all that recycling that aluminum?
GB- Not a clue, but I’m betting the electronics, etc. will bring a nice chunk of change.
Turn the passenger cabin into a tacky Vegas hotel.