Cathay Pacific takes delivery of first 747-8 with performance-improved GEnx-2B engines

Boeing is celebrating the delivery of the first 747-8 with performance-improved GEnx-2B engines as part of the airplane’s Performance Improvement Package, or PIP. A Cathay Pacific Airways 747-8 Freighter was the first to be delivered with the PIP engines.

The engine is the first of the package's three improvements to enter service. The two other components, Flight Management Computer (FMC) software upgrades and reactivation of the horizontal stabilizer tank fuel system on the 747-8 Intercontinental, are expected to enter service later this month and in early 2014, respectively.

"With this improvement, 747-8 customers will use roughly 30 fewer trucks of fuel per airplane per year."

Boeing Test & Evaluation teams validated that the engine improves the airplane's efficiency by 1.8 percent.

"With this improvement, 747-8 customers will use roughly 30 fewer trucks of fuel per airplane per year," said Eric Lindblad, vice president and general manager, 747-8 program.

All three PIP components can be retrofitted on the 747-8. The tail fuel reactivation is applicable only for the 747-8 Intercontinental, and the Flight Management Computer upgrades also can be made to 747-400.

(Eric Olson - Boeing Media)