Goodbye 747s

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

▲  A British Airways 747s at Heathrow and

A Qantas 747 at Melbourne ▼

A recent story in The Independent forecast the departure of British Airway’s 747, Boeing’s jumbo has been in service since 1970, but they’re rapidly disappearing. Singapore Airlines has got rid of all theirs and British Airways have just announced that their 747s – with 57 of them it’s the world’s largest 747 fleet – are on their way out. They’ll be replaced, according to the BA statement, with much smaller 787s. Of course BA have also ordered A380s, the double-decker Airbus, and will get their first one in July. They’ll initially be flying to Hong Kong and Los Angeles.

A pilot from another airline disposing of its 747s reported that ‘They’re all being sold for parts and scrap. The guys who are delivering them on their final flights say it’s a weird thing, powering down a perfectly serviceable aircraft, and knowing that it will never fly again.’