The 1 574e and ultimate Boeing 747 was delivered last week to a cargo company. This jumbo-jet was a tool for the democratization of air transport.
Par Thierry Vigoreux
© URBANANDSPORT / NurPhoto via AFP
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Lhe characteristic silhouette of the Boeing 747, with an upper deck at the front of the fuselage forming a hump, will not immediately disappear from radar. Nearly 400 remain in service, but the source has dried up. The inaugural commercial flight took place in the colors of PanAm, on January 22, 1970, between Washington and London. Last week, the 1,574e and final Boeing 747 was delivered to Atlas Air cargo company. The device came out of the factory in Everett, the largest building in the world by volume, suitable for receiving a fin the height of a six-story building.
In 55 years, the world’s first twin-aisle aircraft flew in the colors of more than 100 airlines. Carrying 360 passengers in the first 1970 version, the later 747-8 version was certified for a maximum of 605 passengers. Among the very special aircraft carrying very few passengers are two 747-100s used to transport NASA’s Space Shuttle (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft). In 1990, two 747-200Bs were modified into Air Force One, replacing the Boeing 707s which had transported the various presidents of the United States. Two 747-8 aircraft are stored in San Antonio to build possible successors to Air Force One, but the exorbitant budgets ($5.2 billion) pose certain problems.
READ ALSONASA buries Sofia, its “747 convertible”
The “holiday flights”
With the Boeing 747, of which it will operate a total of 99 copies, Air France is one of the first companies in the world to commit to the democratization of air transport. “Holiday flights” appeared in 1979. 747s filled with tourists traveling at reasonable fares served the West Indies, New York, Montreal, Dakar, etc. several times a week.
But the national company was not the only French operator to fly a jumbo jet. Corsair flew just regarding every major 747 model -100, -200, -300, -400 and even SP, the long-haul “Special Performance” version, designed for South Africa Airlines. These flew from Johannesburg to Europe non-stop around Africa where it was banned from flying over due to the apartheid regime. Corsair’s last 747-400 was scrapped on June 15, 2020. Air France had discontinued its 747s four years earlier.
READ ALSOWhy a brand new Boeing 747 was scrappedUTA, the second French company before its acquisition by Air France in January 1989, then flew with nine 747s, including two -300s in the colors of its Aeromaritime subsidiary. These two 747s with an extended upper deck might carry nearly 500 passengers in just two classes. The low cost company offered competitive rates to the West Indies. Today, French bee, which also flies new aircraft with densified cabins, uses the same model as Aeromaritime (with the same manager, Marc Rochet).
Shuttle
Minerve was the first French “charter” company to launch a B747-200 in 1988. The arrival of this jumbo jet contributed to lowering prices to the West Indies. Another French actor who flew in 747, Air Liberté will use a plane painted in its colors but registered in Luxembourg for a few months.
Even Air Inter used the jumbo jet from 1986 to 1989 for flights to Nice, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux. One of the aircraft, the one registered F-BPVD, painted white, was leased to Air France which used it on weekends to the West Indies while Air Inter flew domestically during the week. But the economic model of these ultra-short (and expensive) cycle flights was not satisfactory, while customers wanted more frequent flights. This resulted in the Shuttle, an aircraft with less than two hundred seats at least every hour.
