The era of the 747 as ‘Queen of the Skies’ is coming to an end faster than expected, even as dozens of airlines were planning to retire the well-loved but fuel-thirsty jets over the next few years.
Most are replacing them with more efficient, if slightly smaller models, including the 787-10, 777x and the Airbus A350-900, all of which push into around the 400-seat area with far lower fuel burn.
Since the current near-shutdown in air traffic has allowed even those flights that are continuing to use smaller planes, few 747s other than those in freight service are in the air just now, and two major airlines that have been heavy users, Qantas and KLM, have decided to retire them early. KLM had intended to say goodbye this year, and Qantas next year.
One of the retiring KLM planes is a world record holder for most hours in the air; it has spent nearly half its 30 years off the ground.
Other major users of the type, including British Airways and Lufthansa have planned retirements as well, but have not indicated if they are accelerating those plans.
The 747 is not the only 4-engine aircraft type seeing accelerated retirements just now; a number of A380s are retiring and Virgin Atlantic has just said farewell to its last A340. Older twinjets are also going; Delta has retired the last of its MD80 series, and American is accelerating retirement for 757 and 767 models in its fleet.
