In an age where more-and-more airliners fall by the retirement wayside, a Boeing 747 sitting alongside Interstate 10 near Tucson, Ariz. is finding new life. But this time the jet won’t be traversing the skies, instead being commissioned to serve sushi to patrons on the ground. The aircraft, registered as N3439F, is located just east of Pinal Airpark in Marana, Ariz., which is famous for countless stored and scrapped jets. Even though its wings have been clipped — quite literally…
Boeing announced today its results for the second quarter of the year and it comes as no surprise that the balance continues to be negative, even with the significant contribution of Boeing Defense & Space and Boeing Global Services. With Boeing Commercial facing such a challenging time, the company is…
The warning signs were there in March when the coronavirus stopped the aviation industry dead in its tracks. The knock-on effects from the global downturn of passenger traffic were already being calculated by airlines across the world, with decisions being made for what life would look like for airlines post-COVID.…
British Airway has announced that it will immediately retire its Boeing 747 fleet following the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The airline was forced to store all of its 28 747-400s due to reduced demand in the midst of the respiratory disease pandemic. In a letter sent out to all…
This week we faced some sad news. It was slipped to us right before the start of the holiday weekend and it didn’t get much attention outside of the aviation community, but for us, the news hit home hard. It wasn’t anything we weren’t expecting. We knew it was coming,…
Qantas has prematurely retired its final Boeing 747s in response to dwindling demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. AirlineGeeks first reported the airline's final 747 flights in March 2020. The first of its last two superjumbos left Sydney on Tuesday around 9:30 a.m. It flew first to Los Angeles. From there,…
Virgin Atlantic has announced that up to a third of its workforce will be made redundant as the airline attempts to "reshape and resize" itself for the future. On top of the job cuts, Virgin will remove the Boeing 747 from its fleet and will also move out of Gatwick…
The global COVID-19 crisis has impacted aviation profoundly as airlines quickly adapt to crippling demand for air travel and a new reality of border restrictions, grounded jets and seeing sub 20 percent flight load factors. Over 85 airlines across the globe have announced a temporary halt in flight operations and…
Israel's flag carrier El Al Israel Airlines has become the latest airline to retire the Boeing 747-400 aircraft, bringing an end to a 48-year association between the aircraft and carrier. To mark the last flight of the 747, registered as 4X-ELC, the flight-crew took off from Rome-Fiumicino and flew back…
Continuing its gradual retirement of the type, Qantas parted ways with another Boeing 747-400 on Tuesday. The airline’s latest Boeing 747 to be sent to the United States was VH-OJU named Lord Howe Island, a near-20-year-old Qantas veteran and one of its longest-serving global ambassadors at the time of its…
