Brand new Boeing 747 scrapped after 16 flights
A Boeing 747 configured as a private VIP jet is being scrapped after having spent just 30 hours in service over 16 flights.
一架被用作私人贵宾专机的波音747飞机在飞行16次仅服役30小时后就被报废。
The aircraft, originally intended for a Saudi royal, sat on the ground for almost 10 years at EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, located at the border between France, Switzerland and Germany.
这架飞机最初是为沙特皇室设计的，在位于法国、瑞士和德国边境的Basel Mulhouse Freiburg欧洲机场闲置了10年。
There, it was meant to be fitted with a lavish interior, but that never happened, and after failing to find a new buyer, the plane was eventually flown to Pinal Airpark in Arizona – an aircraft boneyard where retired planes get stripped for parts or stored indefinitely.
这架飞机原本打算配备豪华内饰，但最终并未实现。在未能找到新买家后，这架客机最终被送往亚利桑那州的Pinal 航空公园，那里是一个为了将退役的飞机拆解成零部件以及为飞机无限期停放的场地。
①lavish：
英 /ˈlævɪʃ 美 /ˈlævɪʃ
奢华;慷慨的;大量的;给人印象深刻的
②interior：
英 /ɪnˈtɪəriə(r) 美 /ɪnˈtɪriər
内部;里面;内陆;内地;
③boneyard：
飞机坟场;墓地;骨场;坟场;废料场
The plane is a BBJ, for “Boeing Business Jet” – heavily modified editions of Boeing’s jetliners targeted to governments and corporate clients. Its range of over 10,000 miles and cabin space of about 5,000 square feet are unrivaled by any other business aircraft.
这架飞机是一架BBJ飞机，即“波音公务机”——是针对政府和企业客户的波音喷气式客机的大幅改装版。它的航程超过10000英里，客舱面积约5000平方英尺，是任何其他商务飞机都无法比拟的。
It’s also the most advanced model of the Boeing 747 ever produced – the 747-8 variant – which first flew in 2010 but failed to find commercial success due to being expensive to operate. The final one, delivered to cargo operator Atlas Air in early 2023, marked the end of the 747’s production history, though the variant still has a future in the spotlight: two 747-8s are currently being transformed into the next Air Force One planes.
这也是波音747有史以来最先进的机型——747-8变体，该机型于2010年首次飞行，但由于运营成本高昂，未能在商业上取得成功。最后一架于2023年初交付给货运运营商Atlas航空，标志着747生产历史的结束。虽然该机型仍有着备受瞩目的未来：两架747-8目前正在被改造为下一架空军一号飞机。
Boeing has sold over 250 BBJs to date, the vast majority of them 737s, which have a broader market appeal. The large, expensive, four-engined BBJ 747-8 was a harder sell: “Ten were built in total, and this is the first one retired,” says Connor Diver, a senior analyst at aviation analytics firm Cirium. “It’s not transparent who exactly is buying them, but it’s a very, very large private aircraft and the only operators or buyers tend to be governments and royal families.”
迄今为止，波音已售出250多架BBJ，其中绝大多数为具有更广泛市场吸引力的737。这款大型并且昂贵的四引擎BBJ 747-8很难销售。航空分析公司Cirium的高级分析师Connor Diver表示：“总共制造了10架747-8，这是第一架退役的。到底谁会购买这些飞机尚不清楚，但这是一架非常、非常大的私人飞机，唯一能想到的公司或买家往往是政府和王室。”
This particular one was intended for the Saudi Arabian government, and specifically for the Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, but he died in 2011, just months before the scheduled delivery. The plane, which was assigned a mandatory registration code – N458BJ – first flew in May 2012 for testing, and was officially delivered in June 2012.
这一次是为沙特阿拉伯政府准备的，特别是为王储Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud准备的，但他于2011年就在飞机计划交付前几个月去世。这架飞机的注册代码被强制指定为N458BJ，于2012年5月首次试飞，并于2012年6月正式交付。
Crown Prince：
王储;皇太子
“According to our database, it flew via possibly San Bernardino and then San Antonio in Texas for a couple of months, and then in December of 2012 it went to Basel,” says Diver.
Diver说：“根据我们的数据库显示，它途径过圣贝纳迪诺，然后在德克萨斯州的圣安东尼奥飞行了几个月，然后在2012年12月飞往巴塞尔。”
Typically, large business jets are delivered in what’s called a “green” condition – from the color of the protective coating of the fuselage – which means they are empty inside and the interior needs to be installed.
大型公务机通常的交付状态是所谓的“绿色”状态（从机身保护涂层的颜色来看），这意味着当时飞机内部是空的，需要重新安装内饰。
①coating：
英 /ˈkəʊtɪŋ 美 /ˈkoʊtɪŋ
涂层;(薄的)覆盖层
②fuselage：
英 /ˈfjuːzəlɑːʒ 美 /ˈfjuːsəlɑːʒ
(飞机的)机身
“I’m guessing that’s the reason it went there initially, to be fitted out,” says Diver. “Of course, that never happened. And it looks like it sat there for 10 years.”
Diver说：“要去航空公园安装内饰，我猜这是这家飞机最初被送往那里的原因。当然，从来没有人给它安过内饰，看起来它就是在那里呆了10年。”
翻译：老戴
编辑：老张
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