The US Federal Aviation Administration granted Amended Type Certification to Boeing for the passenger variant of its 747-8 aircraft, the 747-8 Intercontinental, with certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency expected to follow within days.
Boeing has 36 firm orders for the 747-8I, of which twenty are from launch customer Lufthansa. Two other carriers have placed orders with Korean Air ordering five and Arik Air ordering two. The remaining nine orders are for Business/VIP configured units.
In addition to the firm orders, Boeing is also believed to have commitments for up to twenty-four more 747-8 Intercontinentals: fifteen from Hong Kong Airlines, five from Air China.and four from Transaero.