Blog #15: 2/6/23: A Brief History of Widebody Aircraft
Welcome back to another Brooke In The Air blog! Its February 7, and today we’re examining the admittedly brief history of widebody aircraft!
We can see here a small (comparatively) Lufthansa Boeing 737-300 (taking off) in the foreground while a widebody Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-200 (taxiing) nicknamed the “mini-jumbo".”
Source: (By Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland - Lufthansa Boeing 737-300; D-ABED@ZRH;04.03.2013/694bc, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26632170)
Older PamAm 747-100 “Clipper Storm King” on landing approach- final
PanAm was the North American launch customer for the 747.
Source: (By Aldo Bidini - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pan-American-World-Airways-Pan-Am/Boeing-747-121 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60446121)
The choice airline type of tourists and travelers of all types, the wide-body famous for transporting massive numbers of people on long-haul flights to far-off destinations for either business or pleasure. Wide-body aircraft are typically characterized by a minimum of 7-abreast seating in economy-class (or select airlines equivalent thereof). We do not have to go back far to find the first wide-body jet airliner; none other than Boeing’s own 747-100, the very first “jumbo jet.” The widebodies typically carry upwards of 160-260+ passengers, moreso in an all-economy configuration, though to be honest no airline has any widebody jet in an all-economy configuration as business and international first class are luxury selling points travelers go for or splurge for. And trust me, many of these luxury suites are veritable hotel rooms in the skies with the 5-star amenities and services to match, it’s well worth it. Economy travelers don’t know what they’re missing and largely seem content to remain ignorant. Anyway, let’s move on.
A trio of Common Widebody Jets
Example of a Widebody timeline: KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines’ Airbus A330 (top), McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) MD-11 (trijet in the middle), and on the bottom, a Boeing 747-400
Source: (By Peter Bakema - Photo http://www.planepictures.net/a/50/24/1151411024.jpgGallery page http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=1151411024, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75484850)
Examples of the most common widebodies include the Airbus A330, the more-famous Airbus A380 “super jumbo” double-decker, the now-common A350 (and the A350-100/Xtra-Wide Body or XWB), the Boeing 777X (yet to be delivered until 2025) and Boeing 777 “mini jumbo” and of course the aforementioned Boeing 747. In the past, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and DC-10 aircraft were commonly used until they were supplanted by the more modern, efficient and safer 777 and A330. The DC-10 especially had the worst reputation and became hated and feared by passengers and crew alike.
Early fuselage attempts found several benefits of widebody aircraft over their narrow body counterparts such as the Boeing 757 and Airbus A321 - both modern aircraft and very much still in service. Such advantages include reduction in tail-strikes for the aircraft capacity-to-size ratio as opposed to common narrow-body aircraft. The widebodies also are generally safer, providing twin aisles not just for loading and unloading of passengers, but for evacuation of passengers in case of an emergency, in addition to additional egress doors and emergency slides on all widebody craft.
Below are common class layouts as shown for comparison.
The Boeing 777X is to use the GE-90X which will be the most powerful aircraft turbofan engine ever constructed and is to be unparalleled in regards to fuel consumption and engine reliability, further eliminating the desire by airlines for quadjets.
Cathay Pacific’s First-Class on the Boeing 747-400. Note the 1-by-1 configuration.
Source: (By Melv_L - MACASR - P3071466, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53416184)
Back-facing view of the Business-class cabin on an A350 - generic before the delivered customer customizes it.
looking back towards the dividing curtains that lead to Economy-class
Note the 1-2-1 configuration.
Source: (By M Radzi Desa - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Airbus/Airbus-A350-941/2550261/L/, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38108739)
Economy-class cabin on the widebody A350
Note the 3x3x3 seat layout in a twin-aisle configuration. The front curtains lead to Business-class which in turn leads to First-class.
Source: (By M Radzi Desa - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Airbus/Airbus-A350-941/2550260/L/, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37432752)
Widebody aircraft are still very much in existence today as the desire for long-range widebody jets has only increased. the only thing that has changed is the shift from tri- and quadjets such as the MD-11 and 747 to twin-jets such as the 777 and 787 Dreamliner due to evolutions in engine technology and fuel efficiency. The notable exception is the Airbus A380 “super jumbo” which requires four engines due to massive size of the aircraft and weight-load of the fuel quantity, passengers on board, crew compliment including flight attendants, luggage of each passenger and the dry (empty load) weight when factored in.
The most popular and last-remaining quadjet in passenger service (barring the few remaining 747s in service) the Airbus A380 super jumbo jet, often used en masse to this day by Emirates and Etihad Airways, Middle East powerhouse airline companies based in the United Arab Emirates.
