Reuters
British Airways, the world’s largest operator of Boeing 747s, will retire its entire jumbo jet fleet with immediate effect after the COVID-19 pandemic sent air travel into freefall.
For over 50 years, Boeing’s (BA.N) “Queen of the Skies” has been the world’s most easily recognised jetliner with its humped fuselage and four engines. But its days were already numbered before the pandemic struck earlier this year.
British Airways (BA) had been planning to retire the aircraft in 2024, but with passenger numbers decimated this year, and experts forecasting it will be years before they recover, the airline said it was unlikely its 747s would operate commercially again. More
I wonder if I could pick one up cheap?
Flying is such a nuisance in a cattle car. I’d finally get to stretch my legs out.
I remember when I was much younger always wanting to see what it was like in the hump. Later, when I could afford to upgrade, I did get the chance and liked it up there because there were only a few rows, so the service was much better and it was much quieter than on the main level. I am going to miss the upstairs, though I haven’t been in a 747 for a few years now because all of the airlines I fly got rid of them a while back.
These things have been around for a long time [50 years??]. I wonder if Boeing would be able to crank out something better than the 777 if it wasn’t bogged down with red tape and the lunacy of Seattle.
Boeing built it with a 75 year service air frame. It’s a beast, costly to operate, fuel hog, from what I hear very stable. Some Shieks will buy up the fleet on the dip and customize them. It’s not runway friendly, needs a lot of space.
I have never been on a 747. I did see one in May, 1969, when I rode by Boing Field on I5 on a Greyhound Bus, which I think was before they were released.
Maybe Boeing’s imported Indian engineers can jigger up a new air frame (on the cheap) and make them competitive again sometime in 2075!
I never got to ride a 747. Did ride the Lockheed L-1011 quite a bit in the 70’s and 80’s. That thing was huge inside.
But mostly Air Force C-130’s. Makes me laugh to watch people in movies having a quiet conversation in those. Yeah, right.
Rode a 747 to Japan in 83(12 hours) …Then a two hour Flight to Seoul…Then a
5 hour Bus Ride to Kunsan AB….And one Year later..a 747 back to LAX…
Drunk all of the waaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!
The dated jets are to be replaced with flying carpets provided by the extremely large population of Muslim immigrants.
We had a C5A parachute jump I was on in the 82nd Airborne. Nobody had ever attempted it, so they took about 200 of us from the 325 and offered us a cherry jump without equipment, lying it was going to be a C141jump. Once we discovered WTF they were doing, we were rats in a cage. Exiting at 200 mph sucked when we were used to 125mph ground speed. Nobody died that day but we had a crap load of angry, pissed off and bruised up grunts who never wanted to jump that big sob again.