Boeing 747-8 vs Boeing 747-400

The Boeing 747-8 and 747-400 are the last two generations of the Jumbo, separated by twenty years and a complete change of engines and wing. The 747-400, in service from 1989, is the classic: 70.7 m long, around 416 seats in three classes, a glass two-crew cockpit that ended the flight engineer's era, winglets, and a range of about 7,260 nautical miles on four CF6, PW4000 or RB211 engines. Nearly 700 were built, and it was the long-haul flagship of British Airways, Lufthansa, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, United, KLM and dozens more for two decades.

The 747-8, launched in 2005 and in passenger service with Lufthansa from 2012, is a 5.6 m stretch with a new wing, raked tips instead of winglets, General Electric GEnx-2B engines shared with the 787, and a cockpit updated with 777-style displays. It seats about 410 in three classes, flies around 7,730 nautical miles and burns roughly 16% less fuel per seat than the 747-400. But it arrived as twin-engine widebodies made four engines uneconomic, and only 48 passenger 747-8s were sold, to Lufthansa, Korean Air and Air China, against more than 100 freighters. Production of all 747s ended in 2023.

Passenger experience

The cabins are the same width, so the 747's economy is 3-4-3 with seats about 17.5 inches wide, and both have the upper deck that makes the aircraft special: a small, club-like cabin above the main deck that airlines use for business class. The 747-8's upper deck is longer, with more seats, and its interior is the 787-style cabin with larger windows, sculpted sidewalls and bigger bins; most 747-400s still flying have been refurbished but show their age in bin size and lighting. The 747-8's engines are also noticeably quieter. On either, the upper deck and the nose section ahead of the main-deck doors are the quietest and most private seats; the rear economy rows behind the wing are the loudest.

Which to choose

There is little to choose for passengers beyond the newer cabin of the 747-8, and the chance to fly a 747-400 in passenger service is now rare, limited mainly to a few Lufthansa aircraft and a handful of smaller operators. The 747-8 is the better aircraft by every measure; the 747-400 is the more historic one. Both are now aircraft to seek out while they last.