Delta’s last 747, which had its final passenger run last month and has been flying a round of employee-and-guest-only farewells, marked the last with a wedding in the aisle.
The trip, designated Flight 9771, was the venue for the wedding of pilot Gene Peterson and flight attendant Holly Rick, who met nine years ago on a 747 military charter in Kuwait. After a walk down a rose-strewn runner, the couple were married at Row 23 (the bulkhead row), 40,000 feet over Memphis.
While the flight will always be a memory for the couple, it ended less happily for the plane itself. Flight 9771 was destined for Pinal Airpark, in Marana, Arizona, the famous ‘boneyard’ where retired planes are left until they are eventually salvaged for parts or materials. It was the last flight of a passenger 747 by a U.S. airline.
