NCA cancels four 747-8F orders

Nippon Cargo Airlines cancelled four of its remaining six 747-8F orders with Boeing.

Japan-based all-cargo carrier Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA), along with Cargolux, was a launch customer for the 747-8F, placing an eight-unit order in November 2005, then adding an order for six more in March 2007. But the cancellation does not come as a great surprise, as NCA deferred, for varying periods, delivery of several of the eight units it has so far taken.

NCA’s fleet is now made up of eight 747-8Fs and five 747-400Fs.

Following this cancellation, Boeing’s 747-8F backlog now stands at twenty-nine, of which twenty are in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding from Russia-based Volga-Dnepr Group, parent of AirBridgeCargo Airlines. But this overstates the backlog somewhat, as four freighters have been built but not yet delivered, so the production backlog is actually twenty-five

Boeing also has eleven passenger 747-8s in its production backlog, so the total is thirty-six.

Finally, since it is Friday, here’s a video of one of NCA’s 747-8Fs landing at Narita. It starts and ends with the freighter obscured by haze, but the close-up in the middle is pretty exciting.