Kind of a Sentimental Day for Me
 

A raucous retirement party for jumbo jet 'Queen of the Skies' | KOMO

An era in aviation is coming to an end. I've spent an awful lot of time crawling around every nook and cranny inside these birds.

Granted, there will still be some international flights with the carriers mentioned in the article, and freighters will fly for decades to come, but it's kind of sad to see an airplane I grew up with reaching its sunset years. I was even there for its first flight out of Everett, WA, when I was a kid - my dad preceded me as an employee, and worked on 747's until the end of his career. Truly the "Queen of the Skies" in so many ways.

Aren't there still outstanding 747-8I orders?

Yup, -8 freighters are selling, albeit extremely slowly. The "Intercontinental", the passenger version, is all but stillborn. When I left the company last month, the end of production was clearly in sight. Couple years left, at best.

I haven't flown many 747s, and the last time I flew a 747 was to Japan in Dec 1999. IF the 747 is being retired, what about the next gen Air Force One?

The end of an era to be sure. An iconic symbol of the first generation of affordable global travel.

....that all said......I was on a 787 from New Delhi to Amsterdam, and it was plush. Fantastic aircraft.

One of my favorites, for sure.

If I'm in the right part of town around 5:15pm, I look for British Airways flt BA0289 arriving in Phoenix from Heathrow. Such a huge bird and it's beautiful.

Sorry I never got to fly on one. I always wanted to.

Excellent point. There is a 747 replacement in the works but what about its replacement? There is a requirement that AF1 be four engined.

I saw it today SmileWavy

Not to fret, if you travel outside the US, especially to 3rd world countries, their fleets will continue to be well-stocked with jumbo jets for the forseeable future.

Up until very recently, IranAir operated flights to Beijing and Kuala Lumpur from Khomeini Airport in Tehran with 747 Special Performance aircraft. The 747SPs had been specially made for the Tehran-New York route during the previous Iranian Regime with the US-friendly Shah. The planes originally entered service in 1976 and were still flying late last year in their original livery no less! I came close to taking the Beijing flight last year when I was over there on work and wanted to pop over to see my grandpa for a few days, but the schedule didn't end up working out. Kind of regret it now that the flights have been cancelled.

Thanks for posting; good stuff.