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Agencies

The world got its first glimpse of Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet in flight half a century ago, on February 9, 1969, as it soared into the sky above a throng of onlookers and the Everett, Washington, factory created to bring it to life.
Ever since, people have not stopped gawking at the iconic humpbacked aircraft, whose stately lines resemble those of a cruise ship.
The first test-flight aircraft, RA001, was more than double the size of Boeing’s next largest commercial jet at the time.
The jet’s pilots sat in a cockpit three storeys off the ground. It was brought to life from drawings in just two-and-a-half years, by a team led by Joe Sutter, Boeing’s fiery tempered chief engineer.

The design defied the wishes of launch customer PanAm and the cost almost bankrupted Boeing.
Still, the 747 shrank the globe, introduced concepts and technologies that forever changed long-distance travel, from twin aisles to in-flight entertainment.
Boeing went on to sell 1,572 of the jets as the jumbo was redesigned and updated over the decades. While twin-engined jets like Boeing’s 777 and later the Airbus A350 have mostly replaced jumbos on long distance passenger routes, air freight haulers are still buying a cargo version of the 747,
thanks to a cargo market boom fuelled by online shopping.

“It’s an efficiency machine for us,” said Jim Mayer, a spokesman for United Parcel Service, the world’s largest package deliverer.
UPS ordered 14 more 747-8 freighters in 2018, a lifeline that helps ease doubts over the future of the jumbo, which looks set to outlive its European competitor, Airbus SE’s A380.
How Hong Kong’s first and worst commercial plane crash happened 70 years ago
Airbus is looking “extremely seriously” at closing its superjumbo A380 factories sooner than expected, Reuters reported in January, after Dubai’s Emirates indicated it might switch its A380 orders to the smaller A350.

Unlike the 747, Europe’s superjumbo does not have a freighter version to help absorb slack demand.
Boeing had said in 2016 it could end 747 production amid falling orders and pricing pressure.
Major US carriers like United Continental and Delta Air Lines have already said goodbye to the 747. Cathay Pacific did so in 2016.
Memories fly aboard Cathay Pacific’s last 747 flight
By keeping the 747 alive, Boeing avoids charges and lay-offs for halting production at the mammoth widebody plant outside Seattle.
It also shields newer programmes like the 787 Dreamliner and the latest model of 777, which would have to bear a larger share of the plant’s huge overhead if the 747 line went dark.
Still, the 747’s extended lifespan could be tempered by US-China trade tensions and concerns about a broader economic slowdown threatening freighter demand.


Global air cargo rose 3.5 per cent in 2018 compared with 9.7 per cent in 2017, according to the latest data from the International Air Transport Association.
The 747 still flies passengers for Lufthansa, Korean Air and Air China, and does have one other role.
The US government asked Boeing in 2017 to repurpose two 747-8 jetliners for use as Air Force One by the US president.

The two aircraft are due to be delivered by December 2024, painted red, white and blue.
The US$3.9 billion contract followed US President Donald Trump’s objection to the US$4 billion price tag of a previous Air Force One deal.
He tweeted that “costs are out of control” and added “Cancel order!”
Sunken Boeing 747 to be highlight of world’s largest underwater theme park in Bahrain
As for the retired 747s not lucky enough to be reborn as cargo carriers, the graveyard beckons. At a vast storage facility in California’s Sonoran Desert, the remains of once-majestic carriers litter the landscape.
Here, the fate of the world’s retired civil airliners is decided by age or a cooling economy. They will either be cannibalised for working parts or sliced up by giant guillotines and recycled for scrap. 
The total number of permanently retired or scrapped Boeing jumbos has more than doubled, from 442 in 2010 to 890 as of 2018, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis of Flight Ascend data.
Bloomberg, Reuters


Soaring to the top: China appoints first female captain for flights on home-grown C919

US airlines cancel more than 1,000 flights due to winter storm Devin

China’s C919 maker teams up with China Eastern with a bigger variant on the cards: sources

Duopoly of Air India, IndiGo to face competition from 2 new airlines

Aviation

Boeing’s iconic 747 turns 50, now mostly hauls cargo

epa06886841 Air Force One carrying US President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrives at Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, Scotland 13 July 2018. US President Trump is on a three-day working visit to the United Kingdom, his first trip to the country as US president. EPA-EFE/Robert Perry

The first Boeing 747 jumbo jet, christened the City of Everett and largest transport plane in the world, departs on its first flight on February 09, 1969 in Everett. (Photo by - / AFP)

FILE PHOTO: A Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 747 cargo flight emerges behind a taxi at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport, June 15, 1998. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File Photo

The 747 here is seen over Puget Sound, Washington.

A Cathay Pacific Boeing 747 at Kai Tak Airport in 1979. File photo: SCMP Photo

Memories fly aboard Cathay Pacific’s last 747 flight 

A Cathay Pacific 747 flies over Kowloon. Picture: Daryl Chapman

Cathay Pacific welcomes its first Boeing 747, at Kai Tak Airport, in 1979. Pictures: SCMP; Red Door News Hong Kong; Cathay Pacific Archives

This handout image shows a Twin aviation fans Paul (right) and Bogdan Wlodek 49, Australian Polish, and who are airport ground staff in Canberra, Australia, prepare to board the last Boeing 747 passenger flight to Hong Kong, in Tokyo, October 01, 2016 [09OCTOBER2016 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE]

This image shows Cathay Pacific cabin Crew in period costume on board the last Cathay Pacific Boeing 747 passenger flight on October 01, 2016 [09OCTOBER2016 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE]

This handout image shows a Cathay Pacific 747 and flying over Kowloon City. [09OCTOBER2016 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE]

Pictures show Cathay Pacific pilot Nigel Demery, former president of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers' Association, in the cockpit of his Boeing 747 before his final flight as a Cathay pilot in January. (UNDATED/ For Agenda/ Sunday Morning Post) PICTURE CREDIT: Red Door News

This handout image shows Captain John Graham with wife Patsy and a Boeing 747-400 on which they met, in the background. [09OCTOBER2016 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE]

Cathay pacific's Aircraft Project Manager Tony Britton at the Fairwell Cathay Pacific 747 press conference held at The Langham Hong Kong in Tsim Sha Tsui. 26SEP16 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

This handout image shows a Cathay Pacific 747 First Class Inflight Service(1980) advertisement. [09OCTOBER2016 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE]

A Cathay Pacific CX B747-200 (747) becomes the first commercial passenger jet to land at Chek Lap Kok Airport as part of a trial run conducted by the Airport Authority, May 2, 1998.

This handout image shows Cathay Pacific crew posing for pictures in Tokyo on October 1, 2016 ahead of the last Boeing 747 passenger flight. [09OCTOBER2016 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE]

News

World

The 747 is now enjoying a second, perhaps less glamorous life, as a cargo mule


Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet, an aircraft that democratised global air travel in the 1970s but fell behind modern twin-engined passenger jets, has bounced back from near death.


Boeing’s iconic 747 turns 50, now mostly hauls cargo

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The 747 is now enjoying a second, perhaps less glamorous life, as a cargo mule

The 747 is now enjoying a second, perhaps less glamorous life, as a cargo mule