The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and Moscow-based freight company Volga-Dnepr Group today announced an order for five Boeing 747-8 Freighters with purchase rights for an additional five airplanes.
Air Bridge Cargo, a subsidiary of Volga-Dnepr Group, will operate the airplanes valued at $ 1.4 billion at list prices. This order was previously accounted for and associated with an unidentified customer on Boeing’s Orders and Deliveries website in 2006.
With this order, Volga-Dnepr becomes the seventh customer announced for the new 747-8 Freighter, joining Atlas Air, Cargolux, Emirates, Guggenheim Aviation Partners, Nippon Cargo Airlines and Korean Air. Air Bridge Cargo will use the freighters for its growing cargo business on routes to Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Europe.
„The 747-8 Freighter’s extra cargo capacity and efficiency improvements will allow us to carry more freight and achieve greater levels of profitability,“ said Alexey Isaikin, president of the Volga-Dnepr Group. „The 15-percent improvement in fuel efficiency over the 747-400ER Freighter and the new technologies that Boeing has adapted from the 787 Dreamliner to the 747-8 made for an extremely compelling business case.“
A new wing design, next-generation GEnx engines built by General Electric, a modern flight deck and new materials are just some of the ways the new 747-8 benefits from the breakthrough technologies of the Boeing 787. The new 747-8 wing incorporates the latest aerodynamics technologies to fly farther and more efficiently. The new GEnx engines, originally designed for the highly fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner, allow dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency, emissions and durability with significantly less noise and weight than today’s engines.
The 747-8 Freighter represents a new benchmark in fuel efficiency and noise reduction. The airplane is 15 percent more fuel efficient than the 747-400F, which allows cargo carriers to reduce emissions by 15 percent, and is 30 percent quieter than the 747-400F.
„Volga-Dnepr’s purchase is another step in our relationship, which extends beyond airplane sales. Volga-Dnepr is also a valued partner in providing logistics support to Boeing,“ said Craig Jones, vice president of Sales for Russia and Central Asia, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
