Boeing’s last 747 is rolling out of the factory after a more than 50-year production run
Boeing’s final 747 is set to roll out of the company’s cavernous factory north of Seattle as airlines’ push for more fuel-efficient planes ends the more than half-century production run of the jumbo jet. The 1,574th — and last — 747 is scheduled to leave the assembly plant late Tuesday before it is flown by a Boeing test pilot, painted and handed over to cargo and charter carrier Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings early next year. “It’s a very surreal time, obviously,” said Kim Smith, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s 747 and 767s programs out of the assembly plant here. “For the first time in well over 50 years we will not have a 747 in this facility.” The lone 747, covered in a green protective coating, sits inside the company’s massive assembly plant in Everett — the largest building in the world by volume, according to Boeing. The building was constructed specifically for the jumbo jet’s start of production in 1967. Inside, Boeing crews have spent the last few days swinging the landing gears, fine-tuning cargo handling systems and finishing the interiors before the final 63-feet-tall and 250-foot-long aircraft leaves the building. Tails with customer logos that have bought the 747 line part of one of the doors. The end of 747 production doesn’t mean the planes will disappear entirely from the skies, since the new ones could fly for decades. However, they’ve become rare in commercial fleets. United and Delta said goodbye to theirs years before the Covid pandemic, while Qantas and British Airways landed their 747s for good in 2020 during a worldwide travel slump. “It was a great plane. It served us brilliantly,” British Airways CEO Sean Doyle said on the sidelines of an event at John F. Kennedy International Airport with partner American Airlines last week. “There’s a lot of nostalgia and love for it but when we look to the future it’s about modern aircraft, more efficiency, more sustainable solutions as well.” The hump-backed 747 is one of the most recognizable jetliners and helped make international travel more accessible in the years after its first commercial flight in January 1970. Its four powerful engines were efficient for their time. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2022-12-07/general/boeing2019s-last-747-is-rolling-out-of-the-factory-after-a-more-than-50-year-production-run
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Boeing’s last 747 is rolling out of the factory after a more than 50-year production run
Boeing’s final 747 is set to roll out of the company’s cavernous factory north of Seattle as airlines’ push for more fuel-efficient planes ends the more than half-century production run of the jumbo jet. The 1,574th — and last — 747 is scheduled to leave the assembly plant late Tuesday before it is flown by a Boeing test pilot, painted and handed over to cargo and charter carrier Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings early next year. “It’s a very surreal time, obviously,” said Kim Smith, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s 747 and 767s programs out of the assembly plant here. “For the first time in well over 50 years we will not have a 747 in this facility.” The lone 747, covered in a green protective coating, sits inside the company’s massive assembly plant in Everett — the largest building in the world by volume, according to Boeing. The building was constructed specifically for the jumbo jet’s start of production in 1967. Inside, Boeing crews have spent the last few days swinging the landing gears, fine-tuning cargo handling systems and finishing the interiors before the final 63-feet-tall and 250-foot-long aircraft leaves the building. Tails with customer logos that have bought the 747 line part of one of the doors. The end of 747 production doesn’t mean the planes will disappear entirely from the skies, since the new ones could fly for decades. However, they’ve become rare in commercial fleets. United and Delta said goodbye to theirs years before the Covid pandemic, while Qantas and British Airways landed their 747s for good in 2020 during a worldwide travel slump. “It was a great plane. It served us brilliantly,” British Airways CEO Sean Doyle said on the sidelines of an event at John F. Kennedy International Airport with partner American Airlines last week. “There’s a lot of nostalgia and love for it but when we look to the future it’s about modern aircraft, more efficiency, more sustainable solutions as well.” The hump-backed 747 is one of the most recognizable jetliners and helped make international travel more accessible in the years after its first commercial flight in January 1970. Its four powerful engines were efficient for their time. <br/>
