Boeing Left With Single Undelivered 747
Boeing has delivered the second-to-last production 747 to Atlas Air, leaving the US manufacturer one jumbo jet away from closing out a production programme that has spanned more than five decades.
Atlas on 23 November confirmed it has now received the third of four 747-8 Freighters that it ordered from Boeing in January of last year.
“As we say goodbye to the Queen of the Skies, we’re proud of her legacy as an airplane that propelled aviation innovation and later laid the foundation of our family of freighters,” says Boeing 747 and 767 programme manager Kim Smith.
The single remaining in-production 747 – also a 747-8F destined for Atlas Air – is now in the final assembly stage, Boeing says.
Delivery of the last 747 is a bit behind Kuehne+Nagel’s previous plan. Earlier this year, the company, which intends to deploy its 747-8Fs on transpacific routes, anticipated receiving the final jet before year end.
Boeing’s 747 production line has been winding down for several years. The company in July 2020 confirmed its intention to wrap up 747 production by the end of this year – 53 years after the type’s first flight in 1969.
“Our customer commitment does not end at delivery, and we’ll continue to support 747 operations and sustainment well into the future,” Boeing chief executive David Calhoun said in 2020.
The end of production will free up space at Boeing’s Everett site north of Seattle, where it makes 747s, 767s and 777s.
Boeing offered both passenger and freighter 747-8 variants, which are powered by four 66,500lb (296kN)-thrust GE Aerospace GEnx-2B turbofans.
The 747-8F proved popular thanks largely to its ability to carry heavy loads over long distances, such as across the Pacific Ocean. The freighters have 4,325nm (8,010km) of range, capacity to carry 133.1t (293,400lb) of revenue-generating cargo and space for 34 cargo pallets on its main deck, according to Boeing.
Globally, 92 747-8Fs are now in service with carriers including Atlas, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Nippon Air Cargo and UPS, Cirium data shows.
Boeing engineers conceived the 747 in the 1960s, when airlines were clamouring for jets with transoceanic range and twice the capacity of the single-aisle 707s and McDonnell Douglas DC-8s that then plied North Atlantic skies, Boeing senior corporate historian Michael Lombardi told FlightGlobal in 2019.
The first 747 took off on its maiden flight more than 53 years ago, on 9 February 1969. The 747 proved a remarkably enduring aircraft, remaining in production even as Airbus started, then stopped, producing the larger A380, a type many thought would kill off the 747.
It has since delivered 1,571 747s of five major variants: 250 747-100s, 393 747-200s, 81 747-300s, 694 747-400s and 153 747-8s.
Airlines globally still operate 400 747s. Most are 747-400Fs and 747-8Fs, though a handful each of older variants remain in service, as do two VC-25As (the 747-400-based jets known as Air Force One) and four 747-200-based E-4B US command and control aircraft, Cirium shows.
