The first of Boeing’s latest generation of 747 passenger jets, the 747-8 Intercontinental, will go into service later this year between Frankfurt and Washington, D.C.’s Dulles Airport, the German airline Lufthansa announced this week.

Lufthansa is the 747-8I’s largest customer with 20 of the new generation 747s on order. Boeing will deliver the first commercial passenger version of the plane to the airline April 23.

Boeing has delivered freighter versions of the airplane to several airlines and a VIP version of the plane to a Middle Eastern country.

The 747-8I is larger than its predecessor, the 747-400. It is equipped with a more efficient wings and engines and a new interior modeled after the interior in Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner.

In the passenger configuration chosen by Lufthansa, the plane will carry 386 passengers.

Lufthansa didn’t specify a beginning date for the 747-8I service to Dulles. A 747-400 now serves that route.