I guess Boeing doesn't really expect to sell that many conversion.. As there were only 48 of the PAX (-8i) models built. I am surprised they even took the time to put together an offering.

I suppose you could convert one of the 107 Freighters, but by the time you made the modifications to support the PAX version of the Enviromental Control System, it might be prohibitively expense..

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I guess Boeing doesn't really expect to sell that many conversion.. As there were only 48 of the PAX (-8i) models built. I am surprised they
even took the time to put together an offering.

Whatever ... The news comes straight from the horse's mouth ...

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On Sat 18-Oct-2025 12:36a, Aviation Hq@2:292/854.0 said to Rug Rat:

Whatever ... The news comes straight from the horse's mouth ...

Sounds like you are taking my response rather personally. I was not doubting it's validity nor your. Simply questioning the wisdom of such an offering by BBJ.

I mean, there were only 17 747 BBJs ordered when the frame was still in production, 8 of them are believed to still be in service.

The -8i frames will most likely be gobbled up by cargo companies wanting BCFs once the 4 remaining carries start putting their fleets out to pasture long before they are bought as BBJs.

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Aviation HQ wrote to Rug Rat <=-

I guess Boeing doesn't really expect to sell that many conversion.. As there were only 48 of the PAX (-8i) models built. I am surprised they even took the time to put together an offering.

Whatever ... The news comes straight from the horse's mouth ...

Some part of the horse, anyway. Bv)=

... Some days you're the dog -- some days you're the hydrant.
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The -8i frames will most likely be gobbled up by cargo companies wanting BCFs once the 4 remaining carries start putting their fleets out to
pasture long before they are bought as BBJs.

Very likely with minor doubts about the BBJ's suitability for conversion.

Plus there are the 2 VC25s that eventually become available ... laugh with it if you want, but they are relatively low time and low number of cycles. Of course they will be turned into a museum ... one for Udvar-Hazy and the other for Paine Field/Museum of flight ... (just guessing)

Plus, I think, we'll see 747-8 frames as freighter for at least another 20 years.

A valid question could be ... if the 747-8 can be converted to a freighter, why couldn't all these parked A380s ... ?

\%/@rd

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On Sat 18-Oct-2025 11:46p, Aviation Hq@2:292/854.0 said to Rug Rat:

A valid question could be ... if the 747-8 can be converted to a
freighter, why couldn't all these parked A380s ... ?

\%/@rd

Aganin, not pinking on you, but the question about an A380 conversion has been asked, and covered adnauseum.

The B747 was actually designed from the ground up to be converted into a freighter. Boeing thought with the indtroduction of SST (Super Sonic Transport) that the future of subsonic transportation was limmited. When Juan Tripp approached Mr. Boeing to build the 747, Boeing figured they would sell a few frames to Pan Am, then contiue selling the frames as Frieghters, and when the originally sold Pax frames became available, convert and sell those as well.

While airbus did initially offer a Freighter version, they ran into a problem of underengineering the floor of the second story, so it could not be used to carry freight. The structur could also not support the fuse without the flooring (With the additional problem of there would be no bennifit for the volume of a single floor A380 without a nose loading cargo door.)..

The cost to retrofit was deemed to be prohibitively expensive for either a dedicated freighter or conversion.

Heck the F could not even save the 747-8 program, and the potential of the 777X-F was the final nail in the coffin.

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The B747 was actually designed from the ground up to be converted into a freighter.

The B747-concept actually was for a freighter for the US military and then adapted for civilian use when Lockheed won the contract, becoming a game changer, before primarily becoming a freighter ... again ... a role which suits it very well.

While airbus did initially offer a Freighter version, they ran into a problem of underengineering the floor of the second story, so it could
not be used to carry freight.

That is correct and is the issue with "any" adaptation from passenger to freighter.

The real issue with the A380 is that, even with a strenghtened floor, there is not enough vertical space to accomodate two standard-sized pallets/containers side-by-side in the top cabin.

But ... interesting 'but' ... The A380 could be converted to handle cargo on its main deck and passengers on the upper ... a mixed-freighter. The problem however is that the FAA does not allow any new mixed-freighter operations anymore like for example KLM operated on its EHAM-KLAX route successfully. Too much opposition from US freighter companies, especially Atlas. KLM was interested in a mixed-version of the 777 and that never came to be for that reason.

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Aviation HQ wrote to Rug Rat <=-

Plus there are the 2 VC25s that eventually become available ... laugh
with it if you want, but they are relatively low time and low number of cycles. Of course they will be turned into a museum ... one for
Udvar-Hazy and the other for Paine Field/Museum of flight ... (just guessing)

I would love to be able to walk through a (declassified) VC25 in a
museum somewhere.


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