The last Boeing 747 is set to roll off the assembly line in Washington state after 53 years and more than 1,570 planes.
The once-groundbreaking jumbo jet, with the distinctive second-floor bulge, is the most notable and popular plane Boeing has ever built.
747 planes once represented luxury and were used by the rich and glamorous, and even royalty.
Many movies, including the 1973 James Bond classic “Live and Let Die” featured the plane, or sets made to look like the first-class lounge on its upper level.
The 747 are no longer in demand as passenger planes, as airlines are moving away from planes with four fuel-guzzling engines like the 747 as companies like Rival Airbus (EADSF) dropped its own two-level jumbo jet, the A380, in 2019.
Customers have bought either the more fuel-efficient 777 freighter or saved money by reconditioning former 747 passenger jets as freighters.
Boeing hasn’t built a passenger version of the plane since it delivered the last one to Korean Airlines in 2017.
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, today there are only 44 passenger versions of the 747 still in service.
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That total is down from more than 130 in service as passenger jets at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic crippled demand for air travel, especially on international routes on which the 747 and other wide body jets were primarily used.
“The 747-8 is an incredibly capable aircraft, with capacity that is unmatched by any other freighter in production,”
“With a maximum payload of 307,000 lbs., we use them on long, high-volume routes, connecting Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East.” said UPS in 2020, when Boeing signaled, it would soon stop building the jet.
The last Boeing will be used as a cargo plane.