The 747-8 interior
A set of Boeing 747-8 interior concept renderings.
The 747-8 was the last 747, and its cabin was designed alongside the 787. Much of what makes it feel different from a 747-400 came directly from that programme.
What came from the 787
Ceiling architecture. Curved overhead bins, with the centre row designed to look as though it is attached to the curved ceiling rather than integrated into it — the opposite of the approach used on the 777.
Windows 16 percent larger than the 747-400’s, the same size as those on the 777 and 767-400ER.
LED lighting. A solid-state system able to set cabin moods across a flight, from sunrise to sunset, with lower maintenance cost and longer intervals between failures than fluorescent tubes.
The staircase
On the 747-300 and -400, the stair to the upper deck is straight and narrow, running from the door 2 galley to the back of the upper deck on the left. The 747-8 replaced it with a curved, sweeping staircase.
It was originally to be on the right-hand side and moved back to the left after Lufthansa’s order — the launch customer having a view, as launch customers do.
The space that was never used
Boeing proposed filling the crown — the area above the cabin normally holding air conditioning ducts and wiring — by moving the services aside. The plan, marketed as SkyLoft, included SkySuites: small compartments with sliding doors, beds and entertainment, reached by a separate rear staircase, with passengers sitting in ordinary seats for takeoff and landing.
Pricing studies could not make it work, and Boeing dropped it in 2007 in favour of upper-deck galley storage, which is what airlines had asked for.
In this section
The pages below are Boeing’s own cabin renderings from the 747-8 launch period, including the Boeing Business Jet VIP concepts.
Related
More in Interiors
Inside the 747
How the 747 cabin changed — upper-deck lounges and spiral stairs on the early aircraft, a 787-derived cabin on the last ones.
When the hump was a bar
Piano bars, swivel chairs and spiral staircases — what airlines put in the 747's upper deck before seat counts took it back.
Three staircases
Spiral, straight, then sweeping — the 747's stair to the upper deck changed three times, and each change was about floor area.
First class on the 747
Sleeper seats, upper-deck cabins and lie-flat beds — how the 747 carried the front of the aircraft for fifty years.
Galleys and crew rest
Feeding 400 people and resting the crew that does it — the parts of a 747 cabin passengers never think about.
The forward cabin
Boeing's rendering of the 747-8 forward cabin zone, showing the curved ceiling architecture carried over from the 787.