Boeing has delivered the first 747-8 with performance-improved GEnx-2B engines as part of the airplane’s performance improvement package (PIP), the company announced Wednesday. A Cathay Pacific Airways 747-8 Freighter was the first of the jumbo jets delivered with the PIP engines.
The engine advances represent the first of the package’s three improvements to enter service. Boeing expects the two other components, namely flight management computer (FMC) software upgrades and reactivation of the horizontal tank fuel system on the 747-8 Intercontinental, to enter service later this month and early next year, respectively.
According to Boeing, the PIP engine improves the airplane’s efficiency by 1.8 percent. “With this improvement, 747-8 customers will use roughly 30 less semi-sized trucks of fuel per airplane per year,” said Bruce Dickinson, 747-8 chief project engineer and vice president.
Boeing can retrofit all three PIP components on the 747-8, as well as the FMC upgrades for 747-400s. The tail fuel reactivation applies only to the 747-8 Intercontinental.