The very last 747 jet has been made, ending a run of more than 50 years

[reader]

I arrived in Thailand for the first time 20 years ago on a Northwest Airlines 747, landing at Don Mueang. Could believe what I saw out the window: a golf course running between the parallel runways! I think there are few readers who haven't flown the 747 at least once in their lifetime.

From National Public Radio

The very last 747 jet has been made, ending a run of more than 50 years

The jet transformed an industry, bringing luxurious amenities and lengthy nonstop flights to the masses — all in a design that was both enormous and elegant. But the reign of the mighty 747 has ended, and Boeing says the last plane left its assembly line this week, after 54 years of production.

"For more than half a century, tens of thousands of dedicated Boeing employees have designed and built this magnificent airplane that has truly changed the world," Kim Smith, Boeing's vice president and general manager of the 747 and 767 programs, said as the company announced the end of production.

Since production of the 747 began in 1967, Boeing says, 1,574 of the airplanes were built. It started carrying commercial passengers in January 1970, when Pan Am used a 747 for a flight from New York to London.

The huge jet that shrank the world

The 747 was a hit at the Paris Air Show in 1969, and more than two dozen airlines raced to put the airliner into service, luring travelers with the 747's promise of comfort and unprecedented range.

People in the U.S. suddenly had an appealing option to visit Hawaii — which was then a very young state. And cities around the world became more interconnected by direct flights.

The huge plane was touted as a win for middle-class travelers, under the idea that airline prices would become more affordable if carriers could fit more people onto a single flight. But that dynamic changed in later years, as the aviation industry saw a growing preference for smaller, more fuel-efficient planes and less focus on crowded, hub-to-hub flights.

The 747's star has been dimming — U.S. carriers phased it out in 2017 — but it had another moment in 2020, when a British Airways 747, aided by strong winds, traveled from New York to London in 4 hours, 56 minutes, setting a new record for the fastest subsonic commercial flight across the Atlantic.

Continues at

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/08/1141578966/boeing-747-last-jet

 

[xpaulo]

I remember the first time I read about this new marvel as a young teen. I probably only flew on one a couple of times though. By the time I started taking intercontinental flights I think their heyday was over.

[vinapu]

End of era indeed, like reader's  my first arrival to Thailand was aboard 747 on Thai on long discontinued Los Angeles - Bangkok route with refueling stop in Kansai( Osaka).

I also recall short 100 minutes flight aboard it from Sydney to Melbourne , last leg of London -Melbourne route if only because plane was almost empty with no more than 20 of us,  economy passengers. Such idiotic waste I was explained , was owing to rules that Quantas  was then ( 1991)  allowed to pick up only international passengers on domestic routes in Australia. 

[PeterRS]

I am sure we all have many memories of that marvellous aircraft. My first 747 flight was on an Air France 747 from Paris to Kong Kong in March 1979. As the -100 and -200 series could not make the flights from Europe to Asia in one go, refuelling stops were necessary. British Airways had exclusive rights for London/Hong Kong with a daily flight that had one refuelling stop in Bahrain and then went on to Sydney after Hong Kong. My Air France flight stopped in Dubai, Bombay and Bangkok before an extra long final sector to Hong Kong. This was a result of Vietnam's airspace being closed as it had only weeks earlier fought a border war with China. That meant an extra hour to detour around the foot of Vietnam. But I loved every minute of that flight.

Like @vinapu I was twice on 747s with virtually no passengers. Just before a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne, I slipped a lower disc in my back. As I knew the secretary to the company chairman, I cheekily asked her if there might be any chance of an upgrade to first (business class had only recently been introduced and was not much better than economy seating on Cathay Pacific in those days). It so happened I was upgraded and it was the eve of Chinese New Year. No one was flying! There were 23 passengers in total!

The other occasion was during the first Gulf War on a Northwest flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong. Once again there were few people travelling. As you left Immigration at Narita you could see into an Immigration office which had a large chalk board on the opposite wall with all the departing flights and the estimated passenger loads. i could not believe it when I saw that my NW flight had around 30 passengers.

The worst flight was on Air China between Beijing and Hong Kong in 1985. There was only one flight between the cities in those days and it left at 7:30 am. So my colleague and I had to be up early to check in by 6:00. Reaching the departure island we saw our flight was a 747. But it had a problem as a two-hour delay was announced! This became 4 hours as we noticed men in overalls using a rickety set of stairs and rather large hammers and spanners to work on an engine. I soon decided I'd prefer not to take that plane, but there ws no choice. By 10:30 we were allowed to board. 30 minutes later we had to disembark again. Over the tanoy we learned that the flight had been cancelled. We were informed we would eventually be informed how we were going to get back to Hong Kong. As lunch time came and went, the small cafeteria was very quickly out of small eats. Around 2:00 pm ladies came round distributing small boxes of rice and chicken. Still no news of how we'd get to Hong Kong. I would have loved to go back into the city to relax in a hotel, but our visas had been cancelled on check in. 

At around 5:00 pm another Air China 747 arrived and disgorged its pasengers. We soon discovered this had come in from San Francisco with an intermediate stop in Shanghai. By 6:30 we were finally allowed to board that plane, taking off around 45 minutes later. Our relief soon turned to concern when chatting to one of the flight attendants. She told us the entire crew, including the pilots, were those who had arrived from San Francisco! By this time they must have been on duty for at least 20 hours. Ahead of them would be another 6 hours before the plane had returned to Beijing. We were delighted when that plane landed safely!

Many passengers seemed to dislike Northwest for their Pacific flights. I was the opposite but then I was lucky to be in business class for my several dozen flights. I always loved their small 16-seat business class on the 747's upper deck. After dinner, the flight attendant would leave the drinks trolley parked at the front of the cabin. I always unashamedly would go up to it and tke a few small bottles to refresh me at my destination! 

[TMax]

My first trip on a 747 was Denpasar to Bangkok in 1988 on Garuda airlines, my last was Bangkok to Denpasar with Thai airways (I think around 2011 or 2012 and upper deck business class on that one) - my worst was Qantas Perth to Singapore, the service on that flight sucked and I have never flown Qantas international since then and never will again. 

[kokopelli3]

6 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 

Many passengers seemed to dislike Northwest for their Pacific flights. I was the opposite but then I was lucky to be in business class for my several dozen flights. I always loved their small 16-seat business class on the 747's upper deck. After dinner, the flight attendant would leave

the drinks trolley parked at the front of the cabin. I always unashamedly would go up to it and tke a few small bottles to refresh me at my destination! 

Like you, PeterRS, I enjoyed the upper deck biz class on the 747.

[vinapu]

13 hours ago, PeterRS said:

......... it was the eve of Chinese New Year. No one was flying!

this is what I thought once when taking Amsterdam -Montreal flight aboard 747 on New Year day in late 90-ties. Who would fly on such day  ? thought I expecting all comforts of half empty plane. To my disappointment it was packed to the last seat , at least in economy