The Boeing 747-8 is a wide-body airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the latest and largest variant of the 747. After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to the Airbus' A3XX. The stretched 747 Advanced was launched as the 747-8 on November 14, 2005, for a market forecast of 300 aircraft. The first 747-8F Freighter performed its maiden flight on February 8, 2010, and the passenger 747-8I Intercontinental followed on March 20, 2011. The cargo version was first delivered in October 2011 and the airliner began commercial service in June 2012.

Its fuselage is stretched by 18 ft (5.6 m) to 250 ft (76.3 m), the longest airliner until the 777X-9, first flown in 2020. While keeping its basic structure and sweep, the wing is thicker and deeper, holding more fuel, and wider with raked wingtips. Powered by the more efficient General Electric GEnx turbofan of the 787 Dreamliner, its maximum take-off weight (MTOW) grew to 975,000 lb (442 t), the heaviest Boeing airliner. The Freighter version has a shorter upper deck and it can haul 137 t (302,000 lb) over 4,120 nmi (7,630 km). The airliner version can carry 467 passengers in a typical three-class configuration over 7,790 nmi (14,430 km). As of August 2019, it has 154 confirmed orders: 107 freighters, and 47 passenger airliners.

The 747-8 was the first lengthened 747 to go into production and the second 747 version with a fuselage of modified length after the shortened 747SP. The 747-8 was intended to use the same engine and cockpit technology as that of the 787, including the General Electric GEnx turbofan and partial fly-by-wire. In 2006, Boeing said that the new design would be quieter, more economical, and more environmentally friendly than previous versions of the 747. As a derivative of the already-common 747-400, the 747-8 has the economic benefit of similar training and interchangeable parts. Boeing firmed the 747-8 Freighter's configuration in October 2006.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have scheduled passenger and cargo services to more than 190 destinations in more than 60 countries worldwide including codeshares and joint ventures. Cathay Pacific operates a fleet consisting of Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Airbus A321neo, Airbus A330, Airbus A350, and Boeing 777 aircraft. Cathay Pacific Cargo operates two models of the Boeing 747. Defunct wholly owned subsidiary airline Cathay Dragon, which stopped operations, previously flew to 44 destinations in the Asia-Pacific region from its Hong Kong base. In 2010, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Pacific Cargo, together with Dragonair (then Cathay Dragon), carried nearly 27 million passengers and over 1.8 million tons of cargo and mail.

The airline was founded on 24 September 1946 by Australian Sydney H. de Kantzow and American Roy C. Farrell. The airline celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016; and as of March 2021, its major shareholders are Swire Pacific, with a 42.3% stake and Air China, with a 28.2% stake.

Cathay Pacific is the world's fifth largest airline measured by sales, and fourteenth largest measured by market capitalisation. In 2010, Cathay Pacific became the world's largest international cargo airline, along with main hub Hong Kong International Airport as the world's busiest airport measured by cargo traffic. The company slogan is Move beyond.