Boeing delivered the first 747-8 with performance-improved GEnx-2B eng

Boeing delivered the first 747-8 with performance-improved GEnx-2B engines as part of the airplane’s Performance Improvement Package (PIP.) A Cathay Pacific Airways 747-8 Freighter was the first 747 to deliver 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 tank fuel system on the 747-8 Intercontinental, are expected to enter service later this month and in early 2014, respectively. The new GEnx-2B engine improves the airplane’s efficiency by 1.8 percent. 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 FMC upgrades can also be made to 747-400s.

Update

The Performance Improvement Package was delivered as described, and it was not the end of the effort — Boeing continued refining the 747-8 through its production life.

The improvements did not change the aircraft’s commercial fate. Airlines had already moved to twin-engined aircraft for long-haul passenger flying, and the Intercontinental attracted only 48 orders in total against 107 for the Freighter.

Cathay Pacific Cargo, the customer for this first PIP aircraft, was among the largest 747-8F operators. The freighters are the reason the programme ran as long as it did — and the reason the line stayed open until January 2023.