Aircraft Asset Assessment — B747-200B

Market Presence. When comparing the B747-200B and A380, the chasm in terms of technology becomes all too evident. The three-person flight deck; clockwork instrumentation; 1950s vintage structure (the B747 fuselage is a derivative of the B707); comparatively basic interior (though carrier Virgin spent millions on presenting the most modern of interiors for the -200B only for the aircraft to be sold to Transaero within a relatively few short years); and ageing systems all clearly define the advances made over the last 30-35 years. As the MTOW of the aircraft increased, the operational flexibility also improved by a considerable amount. The principal limitation still lay in serving long-haul routes between the Far East and Europe and indeed those to and from the Far East and U.S.