Boeing Dreamlifter

Boeing 747 LCF (Large Cargo Freighter

Boeing 747 LCF at Boeing Field, September 16, 2006

Boeing announced in October 2003 that due to the high cost of marine shipping, air transport will be the primary method of transporting parts for the 787. Passenger 747-400 aircraft are to be converted into an outsize configuration, in order to ferry sub-assemblies to Everett, Washington for final assembly. It has a bulging fuselage like the Super Guppy or Airbus Beluga cargo planes used for transporting wings and fuselage sections. The Large Cargo Freighter can hold three times the volume of a 747-400F freighter. [26][27][28]. The conversion, designed by Boeing's Moscow office, is to be carried out in Taiwan by a subsidiary of the Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation. Boeing has already acquired the three second-hand 747-400's: N747BC, serial number 904, which was formerly flown by Air Algerie, N780BA, serial number 778, which formerly belonged to China Airlines, and their sister aircraft which had previously borne the Taiwanese identifier of B-18271.

The first 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter has been rolled out of the hangar at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in mid-August 2006. It successfully completed its first test flight on 2006-09-09 from this airport.[1] Sometime in the middle of September, it is expected to fly to Seattle to complete the flight test program. The second airplane is being modified now and the third will begin modification next year. The first two LCFs will enter service in 2007 to support the final assembly of the first Dreamliners. The 747 LCF made its first flight on 2006-09-09

Delivery times for the wings — built in Japan — will be reduced from around 30 days to one day with the 747 LCF. Evergreen International Airlines, which is unrelated to the Evergreen Group, will be the operator of the LCF fleet.