747-200M

The 747-200M is a Combi: passengers in the front of the main deck, freight in the back, separated by a movable partition, with a side cargo door cut into the rear fuselage. It is also known simply as the 747-200 Combi.

With cargo carried on the main deck it seated up to 238 passengers in three classes. Without it, the partition moved aft and the aircraft became a conventional airliner again.

Why an airline would want one

The Combi solved a problem specific to certain routes: enough passenger demand to justify a 747, but not enough to fill one, combined with more freight than the belly holds could take.

KLM was the classic case, and operated ten converted 747-200s. UTA French Airlines had two converted. For routes to Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the ability to shift the split between seats and pallets from season to season was worth a great deal.

As on the -100, a stretched upper deck modification was later offered.

The safety argument

The Combi layout attracted serious scrutiny after South African Airways Flight 295, a 747-200M which was lost in the Indian Ocean in November 1987 following an in-flight fire in the main-deck cargo area.

The concern was structural to the concept: main-deck cargo on a Combi sat in a compartment that was not required to meet the same fire-suppression standards as a dedicated freighter’s, while being on the same deck as passengers. Regulators subsequently tightened the requirements for main-deck cargo compartments on Combi aircraft, and the extra cost of compliance was one reason the configuration gradually disappeared.

The last passenger-carrying 747 Combis left service in the 2010s, ending a layout that had existed since the aircraft’s earliest years.

Related

The same idea ran through the family: the 747-300M added the stretched upper deck, and the 747-400M was the last and most numerous Combi at 61 aircraft. The frequently searched-for 747-400C does not exist — it is a mix-up with the -400M.