Cruz, BA’s chairman and CEO. “I know I speak
for our customers and the many thousands
of colleagues who have spent much of their
careers alongside them when I say we will miss
seeing them grace our skies.”
BA announced in July that its 747s had flown
their final commercial flights as a result of
the pandemic, which has severely curtailed
international travel and is expected to do so
for years to come. Originally, BA, which was the
world’s biggest operator of the 747-400 model,
was planning to retire the fleet in 2024.
BA’s predecessor, BOAC, operated its first 747
London to New York service in April 1971 and the
plane — affectionately referred to as the “jumbo
jet” — became a symbol of the new age of mass
travel to all corners of the planet. It remained the
largest commercial aircraft in the world until the
Airbus A380 first took to the skies in 2007.
At one point, BA operated 57 jumbos but its
days have been numbered, in light of new,
modern, fuel-efficient aircraft such as Airbus’
A350 and Boeing’s 787.
More than 1,500 jumbos were produced by
Boeing, and it has historically been a commercial
success for the manufacturer and the airlines.
BA senior first officer Mark Vanhoenacker said it
had been his “childhood dream” to fly the 747.
“It was a very large airplane, of course, but it
didn’t feel like it,” he said.
“It’s a beautiful design, a classic like Concorde,
and I often think the upper deck made the 747
look more birdlike.”