In the early 2000s, Boeing planned to design a giant aircraft with a nearly full-length double-deck fuselage for 600 passengers. However, technical and economic hurdles prevented the project from taking off.
In the early 2000s, Boeing intended to stretch the “hump” of the 747’s fuselage along its full length, creating an almost full double-deck aircraft. Designed in response to the Airbus A380, the project aimed to be the largest passenger plane in the company’s history with a capacity of about 600 passengers.
Technical and Economic Challenges
Although the 747-9 project looked impressive on paper, in practice it proved excessively heavy and costly. The aircraft’s wings, landing gear and fuselage would have required a complete redesign. At the same time, the aviation market was shifting from the “hub-to-hub” model to the “point-to-point” model. While long-range, twin-engine, more economical aircraft came to the fore, the market showed little interest in oversized, four-engine planes.
Focus on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
As a result, Boeing turned its focus to the 787 Dreamliner, a more flexible and cost-efficient aircraft. The Dreamliner offered airlines the ability to open new direct routes, while Airbus, too, realised that the A380 programme had failed to match market demands and ended production in 2021.
The Fate of the 747-9
Had the 747-9 become reality, it would likely have shared the same fate as the A380, turning into a costly and cumbersome project that lost profitability. Today, the 747 in its known form has become legendary as the “Queen of the Skies”, while the imagined 747-9 remains nothing more than an idea in aviation history.
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