Aircraft/Boeing
Is the Boeing 747-8 safe?
In short: the Boeing 747-8 has no fatal accidents and no hull losses on record. Here is the full picture, with the underlying numbers.
Informational only. Not safety, operational, or travel advice. These are estimates from public records, provided as-is; see our terms & disclaimer.
0.11
modelled fatal rate / million flights
0.6M
flights flown since 2011
0 / 0
fatal accidents / hull losses on record
The rate is the model's shrinkage-adjusted estimate, the same figure used in a flight's score, not a raw count ÷ flights ratio. See the methodology.
Specifications
What the record shows
The 747-8 is the last and most modern 747, with 155 built between 2010 and 2023 and about two thirds of them freighters. In roughly 600,000 departures it has recorded no fatal accidents and no aircraft written off, a clean record confirmed by Boeing's April 2026 statistical summary. Its most notable safety issue was a cluster of GEnx engine power losses in high-altitude ice-crystal conditions during 2013, addressed by engine and software changes, and every affected aircraft landed safely.
Engine programme: Upper bound is published: Boeing's April 2026 Statistical Summary marks the 747-8 with a footnote reading 'These types have accumulated fewer than one million departures' and shows 0 hull losses and 0 fatal hull losses through 2025. Bottom-up estimate: 107 freighters delivered 2011-2023 give about 1,166 aircraft-years to mid-2026 (year-by-year deliveries weighted by years in service), reduced to a EXCLUSIONS: None. The 747-8 has no hull losses at all, so nothing is removed under the deliberate-act policy. The 747-400 hull loss at Hong Kong on 20 Oct 2025 (ACT Airlines, 2 ground fatalities) belongs to the B744 row, not here, and is a different variant. The 2026 occurrences found (Atlas Air 747-8F N862GT taxiway excursion at Birmingham, Alabama on 16 Mar 2026, a UPS 747-8F engine pod strike at Taipei, an
Who flies the Boeing 747-8, and how old theirs are
Counted from individual airframes in our registry, with build years from public registries and sourced references. An age appears only where we can date at least three of that airline's Boeing 747-8 aircraft; otherwise we say so rather than estimate.
| Airline | In our registry | Average age |
|---|---|---|
| Korean Air | 16 | 11.2 yrs |
| Nippon Cargo Airlines | 8 | 13.7 yrs |
| Cathay Pacific | 3 | 13.7 yrs |
| Qatar Airways | 1 | not enough dated |