Ron Ron Ron Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 Rather than include this in the usual "For those who like aircraft pictures" thread, I thought this warranted its own topic. This week, the final Boeing 747 to be built, was delivered to its customer, nearly 54 years after the first one was delivered to Pan American. . 11 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted February 5, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 5, 2023 70 years to get from Wilbur and Orville Wright's first flight to the jumbo jet, then 50 years of,,,nothing really! Mike. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 5, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 5, 2023 Who's to say that, but for Covid inverting travel patterns and airline profitability, demand for this plane would not have continued? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted February 5, 2023 Author Share Posted February 5, 2023 (edited) 11 hours ago, Oldddudders said: Who's to say that, but for Covid inverting travel patterns and airline profitability, demand for this plane would not have continued? Not at all Ian. COVID only accelerated the final demise of the final 747s in passenger service by a couple of years. Orders for new aircraft had already completely dried up beforehand. Apart from the later -8 model, most passenger airlines had already withdrawn passenger versions long before the pandemic hit. The desert airliner graveyards have been littered with retired examples for a long time. BA was one of the last, large operators of the -400 as a passenger aircraft, but had been gradually retiring its fleet over the previous few years, prior to withdrawing the final survivors at the start of COVID. They were expecting to retire the last one by this year (2023) anyway. The 747 had already disappeared from most other passenger airline’s fleets. The aircraft had become relatively uneconomic to operate as a passenger airliner, being usurped by more fuel efficient and economic large twin jets. The last passenger Model, the -8 only sold in relatively small numbers. It was only ordered by Lufthansa, Korean, Air China and a small number of government and VIP operators. The last order for the passenger version of the 747-8 came in 2012, …..8 years before COVID. Even the successful freighter -8F ran out of orders, with the last large order (from UPS) coming in 2016. The final order for only 2 aircraft (Qatar Airways - Cargo) coming a year later, after which Boeing announced that production of the 747 would come to an end. There are approx. 425 remaining example of the model -400 and -8, plus a very small handful of “ classic” -200s still flying. Some 90% are freighters. They’ll be a common sight for years to come. . Edited February 5, 2023 by Ron Ron Ron 1 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 BA was refurbishing the 747 fleet just pre covid. Covid killed them off and £millions written off as the newly refurbed planes were scrapped. Like Concord the cost of fuel killed the 747, and has also led to the last A380 being delivered a couple of months ago. Big twin engined aircraft (777, 787, A350) are the new Jumbos. I have flown on many 747's and several Emirates A380's, both are wonderful aircraft on which I can actually sleep on (economy class) on long flights (Thailand, USA, Japan & Hong Kong). I remember being woken up on a Qantas 747 over India and being asked "Do you want champagne with your breakfast sir ?" - Those were the days. The world is changing rapidly, not for the better in many ways. Brit15 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted February 5, 2023 Author Share Posted February 5, 2023 25 minutes ago, APOLLO said: BA was refurbishing the 747 fleet just pre covid. Covid killed them off and £millions written off as the newly refurbed planes were scrapped.….. They had been refurbishing the 747 Club class (BA’s business class product) since 2016, to keep pace with the competition. They still intended to retire all the aircraft though, by 2023/24 Quite a large number of their 747-400s had already been withdrawn, with the first leaving the fleet at the end of 2008. 24 had been retired or sold before COVID (3 went in the 12 months prior to the grounding). COVID only killed them off a few years earlier than planned. . 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted February 5, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 5, 2023 Let’s see how long the new and remaining 747 freighters last. We live under the EMA flight path and enjoyed seeing 2-3 incoming 747s for most of last year but their number has dwindled and they’re not popular with the service crews. Less competitive on operating costs with newer 2 engine designs replacing them, sadly. An Antonov made a return visit last month though! Dava 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at C&M Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 The flightpath over Washington state, after she left the Everett facility is worthy of note. This piece of sky art took 2 hours 35 minutes to complete. 7 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hodgson Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 Is it called Evening Star ? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 5, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 5, 2023 3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said: Is it called Evening Star ? Or Clipper Wings? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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