Boeing celebrated the 50th delivery of a 747-8 earlier, with Deutsche Lufthansa, the launch customer of the passenger version, taking delivery of the milestone aircraft almost one year after the first revenue flight of the 747-8 Intercontinental.

It is the airline’s seventh 747-8 and its 82nd 747.

“Lufthansa is very proud to have the next Boeing 747-8 entering our fleet – almost exactly one year after the launch flight from Frankfurt to Washington, DC,” said Nico Buchholz, executive vice president fleet management, Lufthansa.

“After one year of operation and now seven aircraft in the fleet, the aircraft has proven and delivered the excellent economical and ecological performance.

“We are very happy with the reliable operation of the 747-8.”

For more than a year-and-a-half, airlines have benefited from the 747-8’s excellent schedule reliability, utilisation, performance and operational advantages.

Schedule reliability, an industry measure of departure from the gate within 15 minutes of scheduled time, is 98.8 percent for the 747-8 fleet.