Boeing delivered the last copy of its legendary 747 on Tuesday. The plane has democratized air transport, transported American presidents and has always been distinguished by its bump at the front of the fuselage.
The American aircraft manufacturer has produced 1,574 copies of the ‘jumbo jet’ since its first flight in 1969. But the plane, with its four engines, ended up being overtaken by more efficient and kerosene-efficient aircraft.
In the huge warehouse built in Everett, in the northwest of the United States, to assemble the giant aircraft, thousands of former and current employees, customers and suppliers of the aircraft manufacturer attended the handover of the last 747 product, a cargo ship in blue and orange colors from Atlas Air.
Actor John Travolta, who is licensed to fly the 747, made an appearance just before the unveiling of the aircraft, which will take off on Wednesday. Atlas Air has planned to fly it along a route drawing the numbers 747 surmounted by a crown to honor the plane also nicknamed ‘queen of the skies’.
Thanks to its size, range and efficiency, the 747′ enabled the middle class to venture outside of Europe or the United States with ticket prices becoming more affordable, including during the oil crisis of the 1970s’, remarks Michel Merluzeau, aeronautical expert for the firm AIR. ‘He opened up the world.’
‘Drudge’
The 747’s story begins in the 1960s, when air travel became more popular and airports had to deal with an influx of traffic. Encouraged by the Pan Am company, Boeing decided to build an aircraft that might carry many more passengers.
Its engineers initially imagine superimposing two fuselages, but are worried regarding the highest placed passengers in the event of evacuation. “Instead of making the plane taller, they will make it wider,” says Boeing historian Michael Lombardi. The 747 will be the first aircraft with two aisles.
The device was also designed from the start to transport freight: to facilitate the loading of large goods, it opens from the front. The cockpit was therefore installed higher, with behind it some seats reserved for the privileged, creating this so recognizable bump.
The 747 would remain the largest passenger aircraft on the market until the arrival in the 2000s of the Airbus A380. In the 1980s and 1990s, “it was really the workhorse of the system” connections between a few large airports like New York, Paris or London, notes Michel Merluzeau.
It then suffered from the arrival of more innovative, more fuel-efficient long-haul aircraft that might more easily go from one point to another on the globe without going through the ‘hubs’, such as the 787 ‘Dreamliner’ and the 777 at Boeing, or the A350 at Airbus, which fill up more easily and at lower costs.
Air Force One in preparation
‘Even if the 747 has been redesigned three or four times, the technological evolution has been quite limited in terms of avionics and engines,’ believes Michel Merluzeau. For the last adaptation, the 747-8 launched in 2005, Boeing will have sold only 48 copies in passenger version and 107 copies in freight version.
Companies are gradually removing the aircraft from their fleet, such as Qantas and British Airways during the pandemic. In the United States, no company has flown it since the end of 2017. Boeing announced in the summer of 2020 that it would cease production in 2022.
The plane will still fly in the sky for a few decades, especially in its cargo version. ‘It is a unique aircraft for transporting large industrial parts such as engines for ocean liners or drills in the oil industry,’ remarks Michel Merluzeau, highlighting its capacity to transport up to 132 tonnes.
They might be all the more in demand as some of the equivalent devices, built by the Ukrainian manufacturer Antonov, “were damaged by the war in Ukraine”, he underlines. Plane of American presidents since 1990, the 747 will also continue to fly with tenants of the White House for a few more years as two copies are being modified to replace the Air Force Ones currently in service.
/ATS
