The 747, sadly. was on its way out anyway from a passenger carrying perspective. But the COVID-19 pandemic means that both KLM and Qantas flew their last 747 passenger services today. BA has grounded its fleet; they were due to all be retired by 2022, but surely they’ll never fly again now either. Virgin likewise have some and they’re also grounded. Who knows whether Virgin will fly again, never mind their 747s. Cathay Pacific have a few, but their fleet is also grounded...
Is this the end of the 747, so long a mainstay of long haul air travel? Maybe I’m being unduly sentimental, but it’s shame to see such a machine retired in such a fashion. It’s first commercial flight was before I was born; it’s been flying for over 50 years. :(
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I think the 747 is considerably more expensive to operate than modern kit and in current circs its capacity isn't needed.
The frames though may continue flying; a very significant proportion of the flights that still operate are freight and, judging by the number of quite elderly 747s still operating in that role they can be made to pay.
What are BA doing with their A380 fleet?
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 29 Mar 20 at 18:09
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I always used to regard getting on a BA flight, wherever in the world I was, as coming home. Sometimes, usually after a particularly s***ty contract, the relief of a British Airways cabin was emotional.
In those days, upstairs in a 747 was my favourite place on the planet and I well remember those days.
Sad that the 747 is passing. Part of me thinks it's just a lump of old-fashioned, outdated metal that would, other than for the pressure of money, have retired much earlier but part of me kind of thinks the plane itself is upset that we're abandoning it. Very Toy Story.
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That’s kind of how I feel No FM2R - getting on a BA plane, when you’ve been away, is somehow quite comforting. 62 A or K please in current configuration, though I was also fan of the ‘cradle’ seat for daytime flights . I’ve turned down upgrades to F (centre seat) from those seats before... iIt’s old, it’s (relatively) inefficient...but it’s a good looking plane, and it’s also faster than the 777 and, I think, A380, in normal use. Low oil prices kept it flying longer than perhaps it would otherwise, but it’s greater freight capacity is also helped I’m sure. In passenger configuration it carries more freight than a 777, or even an A380 I think. It deserved a better send-off, if indeed it is the end.
And to answer Bromp’s question, BAs A380 fleet is also mothballed for the time being as well. I imagine when air travel starts again in scale it’ll be the 777, 787, A350s that’ll form the core of the fleet. Also interesting to ponder the size and shape of the fleet and operation when it starts up again. It’s already moved everything at LHR to T3, and temporarily stopped operations from LGW all together (or is about to).
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Still a couple of A380s inbound to LHR from SIN & HKG. Presumably grounded once they arrive. There'd usually be couple en route to high load US destinations like SFO right now but not today.
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>> Still a couple of A380s inbound to LHR from SIN & HKG. Presumably grounded once
>> they arrive. There'd usually be couple en route to high load US destinations like SFO
>> right now but not today.
>>
Yes probably, though the Singapore authorities have given a dispensation to transit (but not offload, so refuel and, presumably, board new crew only) passengers from Australia, and I’m not sure how many of them are left to repatriate. Believe the A380s are being parked at LHR, though the some of the fleet is also being parked at Bournemouth, Norwich, Glasgow and Cardiff. I think it’s as much about maintenance capacity (these things will still need regular maintenance even if not used) at the LHR base as much as it is parking space! And what is flying (bar the repatriation stuff) is generally for cargo...the lack of flights has pushed cargo rates massively.
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Presumably you chaps occasionally look in on the PPRUNE website? Discussion there about the ‘Queen of the Skies’.
When I visited my USA friends who lived in CA I always flew Star Alliance ex LBA ( the KLM 06:15 to AMS) then a choice of either an old KLM 747 to LA, or Delta A330 ( I think) to either Seattle or Portland, before my third flight of the day to Sacramento.
Price dependent I always preferred the old KLM 747. Cattle class of course. My ‘Flying Blue’ airmiles accrued but not in sufficient numbers for an upgrade, and I always asked at AMS to see how much an upgrade was just in case there was lots of spare capacity up top. Way out of my budget on every occasion.
Happy days....sometimes I got a return for circa £500. Other times about £900 return but worth it to fly in and out of my local regional airport
Last edited by: legacylad on Sun 29 Mar 20 at 20:20
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BA still using odd 747. G-BYGC in BOAC retro scheme now coasting out over Barra as BA285 to San Francisco.
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As it turns out, sadly, it was for British Airways, whose last 747-400 departures from LHR were today, which happened to be a year and a day after Andrew died. What a week of memories. What a lot has changed in a year.
Lufthansa still, have a few though I think, so maybe there’s a bit of life left in the 747, though I’m sure as a cargo plane she’ll continue for a while yet. Strange to think that when the 747 was designed everyone thought the future was supersonic. So the 747 was designed from the off to be easy to convert to a freighter. The thinking at the time being she’d have a relatively short service life as a passenger plane. So 50 years in service is not bad :)
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I saw that on the news this afternoon, there's two left. One went to saints, I assume to be stripped for spares the other went to kemble, into a museum?
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I’m not sure they’ve decided whether or not to keep / preserve the one at Kemble. Not the right time to be spending money on such things IMO, and then where do you actually display it. The way the last Concorde has been treated, shuffled around by TBK and weighted down with copies of Highlife magazine is a tragedy. But a 747 is a whole lot bigger and even more plane to maintain. Though while it continues to fly as a freighter at least maintenance won’t be prohibitively (in aircraft terms) expensive, though again for an industry on its knees difficult to justify... It’s an American plane, and Boeing have an early one. Maybe BA could trade the last one in against a 787 and let Boeing put and maintain her in their museum :)
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Isn't Air Force One still 2x 747s?
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Believe Airforce One soon to be a 747-800. And it’s difficult to get on board. Though, you don’t need to be clever ;)
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>> Isn't Air Force One still 2x 747s?
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It is, they are being replaced with the last couple of the production versions. They were bought by one company that never took ownership of them,they are being turned into the new af1.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Thu 8 Oct 20 at 22:38
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>> Lufthansa still, have a few though I think, so maybe there’s a bit of life left in the 747
>>, though I’m sure as a cargo plane she’ll continue for a while yet.
thepointsguy.com/news/these-are-the-last-boeing-747s-you-can-fly-in-the-world/
This is obviously a little out of date and by 2021 ....?
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Is this the end of the 747? - Bromptonaut
