Air China is, together with Korean Air and Lufthansa, one of the world’s three operators of Boeing 747-8’s passenger variant. In addition to that, it also continues to use a couple of older 747-400s. Continue reading to find out...
Air China is, together with Korean Air and Lufthansa, one of the world’s three operators of Boeing 747-8’s passenger variant. In addition to that, it also continues to use a couple of older 747-400s.
Continue reading to find out what flights the Air China 747s can be flown on, how many of the aircraft it has in its fleet, and what the airline’s future plans with the Queen of the Skies are.
Air China is one of the three operators of the 747-8’s passenger version.
Air China 747 Routes
These days, Air China uses its 747-400s solely on domestic routes. On the other hand, its 747-8s operate both domestic and international flights. Both of the variants are based at Beijing Capital Airport.
The one domestic route that Air China’s 747s operate regularly is Beijing Capital – Guangzhou. While there seems to be no specific schedule as to when the 747-400 and when the 747-8 is used, the 747 generally operates on the route at least once a day, sometimes twice a day.
Every now and then, the 747 is also used as a substitute aircraft on other high-density domestic flights like Beijing Capital – Shanghai Hongqiao and Beijing Capital – Shenzhen.
As for Air China’s international routes regularly operated by the 747-8, there will be two in 2024:
Beijing Capital – Frankfurt: Until January 7, 2024, the 747-8 is scheduled to operate one of Air China’s two daily rotations on the route, CA931/CA932, daily. Between January 8, 2024, and the end of March 2024, the 747-8 is only scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Beyond that, no 747 flights are scheduled on this route at this point. All of the non-747 rotations are operated by 777-300ERs. Beijing Capital – New York JFK: From January 1, 2024, all of the airline’s flights on this route are scheduled to be operated by the 747-8. Until then, the 777-300ER will be used. Air China currently flies between the two cities only three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays on the outbound and Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays on the inbound flights. Once in service, this will be, at over 17 hours, the longest 747 passenger route in the world.
Routes the Air China 747 will be seen on regularly in 2024. (Map generated using Great Circle Mapper)
The above should leave Air China with some extra 747-8 capacity from April onward. It will be interesting to see whether the airline will simply continue to operate the aircraft to Frankfurt even though the schedule at this point doesn’t indicate so, use the aircraft on a different route, or simply reduce its 747 operations.
Air China 747 Fleet
In the past, Air China operated four Boeing 747SPs. Three of those were phased out in 1999 and the last one in 2000. Around the same period, Air China also operated three 747-200s. Later, the airline went on to introduce the 747-400 and 747-8 into its fleet. It operates both of these 747 variants to this day.
While in the past, the airline had more of them, today, Air China has two active passenger 747-400s:
B-2445 (MSN 25882, delivered in 1994) B-2447 (MSN 25883, delivered in 1995)It also appears to have one additional airframe – B-2472 (MSN 30158, delivered in 2000) – in storage. These aircraft are on top of a handful of 747-400 freighters that Air China Cargo operates.
As for the latest and last 747 variant, the 747-8, Air China took delivery of seven airframes although only the five below are currently active:
B-2480 (MSN 41194, delivered in 2015) B-2482 (MSN 44933, delivered in 2015) B-2485 (MSN 41191, delivered in 2014) B-2486 (MSN 41192, delivered in 2014) B-2487 (MSN 44932, delivered in 2014)Air China 747-8 registered B-2479 (MSN 41193, delivered in 2014) appears to have been retired for good. The aircraft was in a VIP configuration and now seems to have been replaced by B-2482. Airframe registered B-2481 (MSN 41847, delivered in 2015) has not been active for at least a few months either.
Air China 747-8 banking after departure from New York JFK Airport.
Air China 747 Seat Configuration
Air China Boeing 747-400s are equipped with 344 seats in three classes:
10 first class seats in a 1-2-1 layout 42 angle-flat business class seats in a 2-2 layout (and a 2-2-2 row in the back of the main deck cabin) 292 economy class seats in a 3-4-3 layout (2-4-2 in the very back of the aircraft)Business class on the Air China 747-400s is spread across the front section of the main deck and the upper deck. Interestingly, the first class cabin is behind the main deck business class cabin – i.e. stuck between business and economy class cabins.
Air China Boeing 747-8s are equipped with 365 seats in four classes:
12 first class seats in a 1-2-1 layout 54 lie-flat business class seats in a 2-2 (in the nose and on the upper deck) and 2-2-2 (on the rest of the main deck) layouts 66 premium economy class seats in a 3-4-3 layout (same as economy class but with more legroom) 233 economy class seats in a 3-4-3 layout (2-4-2 in the very back of the aircraft)The 747-8s feature newer seats – including revamped business and first class seats – than the 747-400s. The first class cabin is behind the business class cabin on the 747-8 too.
Air China 747 Retirement Plans
Back in 2014, there were reports of Air China planning to retire its 747-400s shortly. While that did not happen, the airline has reduced the size of its 747-400 fleet considerably. It once used to operate over a dozen airframes while now it is left with only two.
The aircraft also went from being the airline’s flagship used on its most prestigious international routes to just being used on high-density domestic flights. When the remaining three airframes will be retired remains to be seen. That said, given that the two that currently fly are nearly 30 years old (the inactive one is nearly 25 years old and might have been retired already), chances are it won’t be long before they are gone.
In fact, I wonder if part of the reason for Air China’s trimmed-down international 747-8 schedule is the airline’s intention to ramp up domestic 747-8 operations to make up for the potential 747-400 retirement.
As for Air China’s 747-8s, having been manufactured in 2014 and 2015, those are all fairly new airframes. Because of that, they will most likely remain in Air China’s fleet for the foreseeable future. Especially so since for the time being, the airline needs to keep operating one as a governmental VIP aircraft in either case.
An Air China 747-400 landing at Los Angeles Airport back when it used to operate international flights.
Summary
Air China is one of the few remaining Boeing 747 operators in the world and the one that is likely to operate the type for the foreseeable future thanks to having the type’s latest variant, 747-8. In addition to that, the airline also still has some of the older 747-400 in service.
While the latter are only used on domestic flights, the 747-8s are used on both domestic and international flights. The main routes operated by the 747 include flights from Beijing Capital to Guangzhou, Frankfurt, and New York JFK.
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