Lufthansa to operate world’s longest passenger plane

Lufthansa will next year begin operating flights using the world’s longest passenger airliner – the Boeing 747-8.
The German airline is the launch customer for the new plane, which measures 76.3 metres in length, making it six metres longer than the 747-400.
Boeing’s first 747-8 Intercontinental emerged from the company’s Everett factory near Seattle this week in Lufthansa livery, sporting a white fuselage and a blue tailfin with the airline’s logo – a crane in flight – set against a yellow background.
The plane will undergo extensive ground tests before initial trial flights in November.
It is scheduled to go into service in spring 2012.
As well as being longer than any other aircraft currently in operation, the Boeing 747-8 features new engines offering greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions and noise levels.
It also has redesigned wings offering better aerodynamics.
Lufthansa has ordered 20 of the new airliners, which are scheduled for delivery between 2012 and mid-2015, and has options on a further 20