747-8 VIP Overhead Space Utilization Kit Offered, BBJ Performance Improvements Planned for 2011

There's been a lot of activity among those responsible for Boeing's business aviation programs. To lead off the bigger developments, Boeing's BBJ Convertible is now being made available to prospective customers.

The airplane reconfigures from all-passenger to all-cargo configuration in less than eight hours. Boeing'c concept for the aircraft allows governments, corporations and private individuals to quickly change from transporting VIPs, staff or troops to delivering disaster-relief supplies or configuring for medical evacuation. There is room for transporting tools, parts and machinery; race cars or race horses; or equipment for touring bands and musicians.

Boeing recently finalized an agreement with Greenpoint Technologies to provide 747-8 VIP owners and their chosen completion centers with a kit that adds 75 square-meters of space to the airplane's crown. The Overhead Space Utilization or OSU kit is installed post production above the main cabin ceilings between doors three and five. The kit includes stairs from the main deck to the space above. Greenpoint offers three artistically engineered OSU designs.

BBJ owners receiving their airplanes after mid-2011 will reduce fuel consumption by 2 percent through a combination of airframe and engine improvements that Boeing announced in late April. Airplane structural improvements will reduce drag on the airplane, reducing fuel use by about 1 percent. Boeing's engine partner, CFM is contributing a further 1 percent fuel savings through hardware changes to its CFM56-7B Evolution engine.

Steven Hill, president of Boeing Business Jets since August 2004, will retire in July after 35 years with Boeing. Taking Hill's place is Stephen R. Taylor, currently the BBJ chief pilot. Taylor has held positions as a production flight test pilot for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, served as a captain for Boeing executive flight operations and was a self-employed BBJ pilot for two years. Taylor joined The Boeing Company in 1991 as a flight operations engineer.

FMI: www.boeing.com