After more than a year of delays, Boeing has finally completed its 747-8 Intercontinental – its largest and most recognizable commercial airplane.

The company announced that it has handed over its first passenger version to a “VIP customer,” who sent the gleaming, all-white plane to a modification center to transform it into the “jewel of the sky.”

Reuters reports:

Boeing, the world’s second-largest plane-maker marked the milestone with an understated ceremony, keeping the media at arm’s length to safeguard the identity of its customer, thought by industry insiders to be the state of Qatar.

“The 747 is the most iconic airplane in the world, and I know customers are going to love what we’ve done to enhance its performance,” Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement…

Boeing, which competes for orders with rival Airbus, has taken 36 orders – nine from non-airline customers – for the aircraft, which lists at $332.9 million.

Thoughts?