Seating and stowage
A further view of 787-derived cabin features on the 747-8.
The 747-8 cabin showing its seating configuration and overhead bins.
The stowage that made the ceiling
The bins are the 787’s contribution. On the 777 the centre bins are built into the ceiling curve; on the 747-8 they are shaped to appear suspended from it, leaving the arch visible along the full length of the cabin. The result is the piece of 747-8 styling passengers touch: bigger, curved, opening bins that read as continuous ceiling rather than as a row of lockers.
Main deck seating is typically 3-4-3 in economy — the standard 747 count that seats ten across — while the economics of a 467-seat aircraft decide the pitch. What the layout gains over a 747-400 is space, not just seats.
Below the floor, the 747-8’s cargo capacity is a third greater than the 747-400’s — partly because the crew rest area moved upstairs. Add the 787-derived lighting and windows, and the interior the render describes is the last real cabin evolution of the 747: overhead-bin arch, LED mood lighting, and floors finished however each airline chose.
For the seat-map view of how operators actually sold this cabin, see the Lufthansa 747-8 layout.
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Related topics
The 747-8 cabin experience
Larger windows, a sculpted 787-style ceiling, LED mood lighting and a quieter cabin than any previous 747.
Boeing 747-8 Flight Deck
The 747-8 flight deck adds 787-derived displays, electronic checklists and an airport moving map while keeping a common type rating with the 747-400.
The Boeing 747-8 wing
The 747-8 replaced the 747-400 wing entirely — new airfoils, raked wingtips, fly-by-wire controls and a load-alleviation system that saved 1,400 lb.
The GEnx-2B engine
The 747-8 is powered by four General Electric GEnx-2B engines, sharing a core with the 787's GEnx but tuned for the 747 airframe.
The Boeing Dreamlifter
Four 747-400s rebuilt with a swollen fuselage and a swing tail to carry Boeing 787 wings and fuselage barrels between factories.
747 versus A380
The two largest airliners ever built, compared — size, capacity, economics, and why both are now out of production.
More in Interiors
Inside the 747
How the 747 cabin changed — upper-deck lounges and spiral stairs on the early aircraft, a 787-derived cabin on the last ones.
When the hump was a bar
Piano bars, swivel chairs and spiral staircases — what airlines put in the 747's upper deck before seat counts took it back.
Three staircases
Spiral, straight, then sweeping — the 747's stair to the upper deck changed three times, and each change was about floor area.
First class on the 747
Sleeper seats, upper-deck cabins and lie-flat beds — how the 747 carried the front of the aircraft for fifty years.
Galleys and crew rest
Feeding 400 people and resting the crew that does it — the parts of a 747 cabin passengers never think about.
The 747-8 interior
The Boeing 747-8 cabin — 787-derived architecture, a curved staircase, larger windows, LED mood lighting and the VIP concepts.