World’s longest airliner ready for take-off

The world's longest passenger airliner, the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, will go into service with Lufthansa - the launch customer - early next year.

The first 747-8 Intercontinental emerged from the paint hangar at Boeing's Everett factory near Seattle last Sunday in Lufthansa livery.

After completing extensive ground tests, the aircraft will undergo initial test flights in November, and is scheduled to go into service next European spring.

The Boeing 747-8 has been stretched by six metres compared with the Boeing 747-400 and measures 76.3 metres in length.

Lufthansa has ordered 20 Boeing 747-8s, which consume 13 percent less fuel than the Boeing 747-400. The aircraft are due for delivery from the beginning of 2012 through to mid-2015.