Aircraft

By Max Kingsley-Jones in London

Boeing is confident that its new 747-8 family will not be dramatically affected by the wake vortex issues that have dogged the Airbus A380 and resulted in greatly increased separation distances between the ultra-large aircraft and other traffic during approach, cruise and for take-offs.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice-president marketing Randy Baseler says that the 747-8 is smaller and lighter than the A380, and its wake vortices are expected to only be "a little bit more" than today's 747-400.

Until the introduction of the A380, the 747-400 was the largest passenger aircraft in the International Civil Aviation Organisation's "heavy" separation category, and Airbus had hoped that the A380 would be given the same classification. However, after initial vortex results from A380 flight testing, ICAO last year implemented conservative limits that Airbus expects will be relaxed before service entry. But ICAO is expected to apply a new category or special conditions for the A380 above the 747-400, at least in the short term.

"ICAO was concerned about separation distances involving the A380 because of its size and its weight being in excess of 1,000,000lb [454t]," says Baseler. "The 747-8 will, at 980,000lb, be below that. It will also not have the wingspan or the body diameter of the A380, so its vortices are unlikely to be as great and we don't expect that it will be classified the same as the A380," he adds.