An era ends with the delivery of the last Boeing 747. On Tuesday evening of our time, the cargo airline Atlas Air took delivery of the last model of the 747-8F series at Boeing’s plant in Everett (near Seattle). The aircraft, serial number 67150, is the last “Queen of the Skies” to roll off the Boeing assembly line almost 54 years after the first flight. The “Jumbo” will still be visible in the air for a while.
The Boeing 747 plays a special role in aviation. Four engines, a lot of capacity and a long range already characterized the aircraft in the 1970s and made it a favorite of airlines, but also of passengers. And not only that: The 747 was not just a passenger aircraft with – for the conditions at the time – impressive performance data. The machine was and is also popular and successful as a freighter.
Boeing streams the Delivery online live. The ceremony begins at 10pm GMT.
Construction with cargo in mind
And that’s no coincidence: at the time of the 747’s design, many in the aviation industry believed that the supersonic would be the future of passenger travel. When designing the jumbo, the designers had a second life as a freighter in mind. Because the 747 was supposed to have a large cargo hatch on the nose, the cockpit is above the passenger deck. The resulting typical “hump” was enlarged for better aerodynamics and initially housed the first-class bar.
With the jet age dawning in the 1960s and growing tourism, the 747 served the need for non-stop long-distance travel. Boeing brought on engineer Joe Sutter from the 737 team to lead the development of a new widebody. The first version of the jumbo, the Boeing 747-100, was created under his aegis. Sutter is now also called the “Father of the 747”.
The machine became the flagship of the airlines. Everyone wanted them, says Boeing historian Michael Lombardi. That even applied to airlines that actually couldn’t use them. For example, People Express offered scheduled flights between Boston and Denver, which, according to Lombardi, actually made no sense.
Popular with passengers: Sufficient space in Economy Class.
Boeing has built a total of 1,574 jumbo jets over the past few decades. The 747 was repeatedly optimized and Sutter was able to experience each of these versions. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 95, just a few years after the last two 747 models were launched: the 747-8i and the 747-8F. After his death, Boeing recognized Sutter’s accomplishments on its website.
Between Sutter’s first 747 and today’s model, there were many intermediate steps, conversions and special constructions that hardly any other aircraft can boast of. The most obvious from a passenger perspective are the -200, -300 (with an extended hump), -400 and finally the -8 models with a small “i” for intercontinental. At the same time, the 747 also developed successfully as a freighter, recognizable by an F at the end of the type designation. Just such a freighter is the last aircraft delivered, a 747-8F, which is now going to Atlas Air. This company is currently the largest 747 operator with over 50 machines.
In the cargo business, people also like to use used aircraft from passenger operations and convert them. In addition to the 747-400F, there was, for example, a -400BCF for “Boeing Converted Freighter”. This is missing the front loading hatch. For a while there were also combi freighters (747-400M) that carried both cargo and passengers. While the brand-new pure cargo jumbos only had a short hump until recently, the BCF machines still offer plenty of space on the upper deck. Therefore, to the untrained eye, the modern 747-8F also looks like an old 747-100.
The design of the loading hatch required the cockpit to be relocated over the cabin.
Jumbo on special mission
Hardly any other passenger aircraft was built and converted for such different special operations as the 747 – be it as a Transporter for the space shuttle, flying observatory or launch pad for the Virgin Orbit rockets. The British company takes advantage of another feature of the 747: A mounting for a fifth engine under the left wing of the jumbo, which was used, for example, to transport spare engines.
VIP machines, such as those used by the heads of Japan or the USA, are more common. The latter is known as Air Force One, but only gets this designation when the US President is actually on board. It is otherwise known as the VC-25, the heavily modified military version of the 747. Incidentally, its pilots are trained at Atlas Air.
Boeing itself also needs the 747 for special tasks. Needing a new transporter for its troubled 787 Dreamliner program, the aircraft manufacturer constructed the “Dreamlifter” (operated by, guess what, Atlas Air) out of old jumbo jets. In a way, the aircraft can be seen as the beginning of the end of the 747, because with the Dreamliner, Boeing wanted to offer an aircraft that would make direct long-haul flights economical.
Too early for a farewell
It’s too early to say goodbye to four-engine widebody aircraft. Although four-jet aircraft such as the A340 or A380 are becoming rarer and jumbos are not seen very often, especially in the USA, the 747 will still fly for a while – especially since the B747-8i is still comparatively young. Despite fewer operators, the aircraft is often seen in Germany in particular because the Lufthansa has at least 19 machines in the fleet has.
Rare guest in Berlin-Tegel: A 747-8 from Lufthansa.
But compared to the total of 1,574 aircraft that were built, the four dozen 747-8i delivered are far from a success. It was supposed to stand up to the Airbus A380, which ended up with 251 machines. The family also includes the 747-8F, of which Boeing has delivered 107 examples. These 107 machines within a decade are quite remarkable, because 227 machines from the last freighter generation 747 aircraft (-400F/ERF/M) were delivered over a period of around two decades. There are also many passenger planes that have been converted into freighters.
The popularity of the 747 as a converted freighter alone shows that even the 400 aircraft will probably still be flying for decades. Boeing historian Lombardi even assumes that individual 747s will still be flying in 2069. That’s not unrealistic. Up until six years ago, machine number 25 was still flying for engine manufacturer General Electric as a test aircraft and had been on the road for 47 years. The Boeing E4B, a militarized version of the 747-200, has been flying as a US Air Force National Airborne Operations Center through the area.
For Boeing itself, the aircraft currently has no future. Unlike Airbus, Boeing has not yet used its giant aircraft for flight demonstrations of new components and has no plans to do so, the company said. Of course, this cannot be ruled out, because industry members rarely comment on future plans in order to protect themselves from the competition.
(vbr)
