B-LJK, one of Cathay Pacific Cargo’s fourteen Boeing 747-8F aircraft, heads out for departure at DFW. This particular -8F was delivered to Cathay on 18 December 2013. Through the 1990s Boeing had been studying stretched versions of the 747-400 and in 1996 proposed the 747-500X and -600X which would have had a 777-based wing at the Farnborough Air Show, but airline interest was lukewarm at best and the project shelved. When Airbus revealed the A3XX program in 2000 (which later became the A380), the stretched 747 was resurrected as a more modest upgrade as the 747X and 747X Stretch, but again, airline interest was lukewarm. The 747-400ER and -400ERF incorporated some of the systems ideas from the 747X work, but the -400ER and -400ERF were only produced in modest numbers and only QANTAS got the passenger -400ER. Continued design work proceeded through the early 2000s as the 747-400QLR (Quiet Long Range) that used raked wingtips and noise reducing chevron engine nozzles. In 2004 the QLR project was redesignated 747 Advanced with the addition of 787-based systems. By 2005, Boeing launched the 747 Advanced as the 747-8 program with the passenger -8i Intercontinental and the -8F freighter. Interestingly when Boeing introduced the long range Boeing 707-320B/C variants in the 1950s, they were promoted as the “707 Intercontinental". #Avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KDFW #DFW #airport #igTexas #planespotting #airlines #Boeing #747 #7478F #CathayPacific #CathayPacificCargo #BLJK #DFWavgeek #instagramaviation #splendid_transport #instaaviation #aviationlovers #aviationphotography #flight #Avgeekery #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge (at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqlsljyFkbd/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1izzn7ze27ymm
