The 747-400, the most common passenger version in service, has a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.85–0.855 (up to ) with an intercontinental range of 7,260 nautical miles (8,350 mi or 13,450 km).
Za 747 so pričakovali, da bo zastarel po 400 izdelanih, vendar je s 1.000 izdelanimi leta 1993 presegel pričakovanja skeptikov.