Here is the British Airways official Boeing 747 statement and some great vintage photos

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Yesterday we broke the news that British Airways intends to retire its entire fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft in the coming months, four years earlier than planned.

British Airways has now provided us with a full press release including some excellent vintage photographs of the 747 in service during its time at BA.

Here is the official wording from British Airways:

Today (Friday July 17, 2020) British Airways announces, with great sadness, that its fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft, fondly known as ‘The Queen of the Skies’, are likely to have flown their last scheduled commercial service.

After nearly five decades of service and millions of miles flown around the globe, it is proposed that the airline’s remaining fleet of 31 747-400 aircraft will be retired with immediate effect as a result of the devastating impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the airline and the aviation sector, which is not predicted to recover to 2019 levels until 2023/24.

Just a year ago, British Airways lovingly re-painted four of its jumbo jets in heritage colours to mark the company’s centenary. The BOAC jet put in a guest appearance with the Red Arrows much to the delight of spectators at the Royal International Air Tattoo, and sadly the aircraft will shortly be heading towards its final resting place alongside 30 others.

The fuel-hungry aircraft were slowly being phased out by British Airways as they reached the end of their working life in order to help meet the company’s commitment to net zero by 2050. The airline has invested heavily in new, modern long-haul aircraft including six A350s and 32 787s which are around 25 per cent more fuel-efficient than the 747. As part of the airline’s £6.5 billion injection into customer experience in recent years, existing aircraft have been refurbished and the brand new arrivals have come into the British Airways’ fleet complete with a luxurious business class Club Suite product.

Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, said: “This is not how we wanted or expected to have to say goodbye to our incredible fleet of 747 aircraft. It is a heart-breaking decision to have to make. So many people, including many thousands of our colleagues past and present, have spent countless hours on and with these wonderful planes – they have been at the centre of so many memories, including my very first long-haul flight. They will always hold a special place in our hearts at British Airways.

“We have committed to making our fleet more environmentally friendly as we look to reduce the size of our business to reflect the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on aviation. As painful as it is, this is the most logical thing for us to propose. The retirement of the jumbo jet will be felt by many people across Britain, as well as by all of us at British Airways. It is sadly another difficult but necessary step as we prepare for a very different future.”

BOAC operated its first 747 London to New York service on 14th April 1971 and in July 1989 the first British Airways 747-400, the aircraft type the airline still flies today, took to the skies.

Plane spotters who lined Heathrow’s perimeter fences would watch as the magnificent 747-400 would typically take off at 180mph and reach cruising speeds in the sky of up to 565mph.

For the next decade the airline took delivery of 56 more of the aircraft, with its final plane delivered in April 1989. At the time, it was the largest commercial aircraft in the world, and it remained so until the Airbus A380 first took to the skies in 2007.

At one point British Airways operated 57 747-400 aircraft. The original aircraft featured 27 First Class seats and 292 Economy seats. Initially, the upper deck, widely described as the bubble, contained a lounge, with lounge chair seating. It was known as the ‘club in the sky’ and the aircraft also played host to the world’s very first flat bed seat which British Airways pioneered in 1999.

Today’s aircraft can seat up to 345 customers in four classes – First, Club World (Business), World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) and World Traveller (Economy). British Airways recently refreshed the interiors of a number of its 747 aircraft which were expected to remain in service for several years to come.

The airline’s jumbo jets are currently grounded at various locations in the UK and are now only expected to reach heights of 35,000 feet as they make their final journeys.

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British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Jordan D says:

17 Jul17 July 11:44

No farewell flights mentioned. Typical Alex Cruz.
- Rhys says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 11:47
  
  I don’t blame them – last time they tried to fly 747s domestically there was an uproar from people like Extinction Rebellion. BA have enough bad press at the moment with redundancies as it is without stirring the pot further!
  - memesweeper says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 12:08
    
    Correct Rhys, spending money burning fuel for a farewell is not going to sit well alongside mass redundancies.
    - Spaghetti Town says:
      
      17 Jul17 July 12:18
      
      Shame. Concorde got a proper send off.
      - ChrisC says:
        
        17 Jul17 July 13:32
        
        Concorde was special. Almost bespoke and never surpassed.
        
        747 is mass produced and has been surpassed.
        
        I really don’t get the grief people seem to be experiencing. It’s a plane and flew people from A to B. That’s it.
      - Mark says:
        
        17 Jul17 July 18:38
        
        I’d say two reasons:
        
        1) The 747, unlike any other commercial passenger jet, has scope for seating in areas that feel more private, i.e. the nose and the upper deck. Nothing else compares in that regard.
        
        2) The very fact that it has been in production for 50 years means that a lot of people will have flown on them and will have memories (fond or otherwise) of doing so, unlike Concorde which is clearly special for somewhat different reasons.
        
        For me it’s the memory of my first ever long-haul flight on the upper deck of a BA 747-400 on the way to Chicago in July 2001, the only time I ever got to go in the cockpit during a flight.
        
        So yes, in many ways it has been surpassed, but not in the ways that made it a favourite for many such as those of us who for many years made a point of flying on BA’s 747 services in preference to the 777 even though the 777 was newer and more advanced.
      - Chris Heyes says:
        
        17 Jul17 July 19:02
        
        Spaghetti Town@ Concorde was an “iicon” 747s should have gone years ago
        Thank goodness its finally going (first was fine, even business was fine)
        but if you ever traveled in economy (we have once, never again) lol
        But maybe it was designed to make sure customers only traveled in economy the once lol
      - Paul says:
        
        18 Jul18 July 14:15
        
        Yep if you call being cut up and sailed for the Thames on a barge a great send off!
    - guesswho2000 says:
      
      17 Jul17 July 13:56
      
      Shame though. Qantas get away with it, but domestic flying is agiven here, rather than seen as an unnecessary luxury as in maybe by some in the UK,
    - GaryC says:
      
      18 Jul18 July 02:04
      
      I wonder whether some of the “747’s not that special” type comments are just trolling, or simply made by people with almost zero actual experience of flying, and different aircraft types. Regardless of cabin class being flown, the looks are undeniably iconic. And flying in club on upper deck, or in first meant a unique experience not available elsewhere. So reason enough for people to feel a little sad and nostalgic.
LB says:

17 Jul17 July 12:01

Is that a coffin, with the flowers on top?
- Simon says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 12:28
  
  🙂 !!
Jill (Kinkell) says:

17 Jul17 July 12:44

The planes have got to fly somewhere to the breakers yard, so why not take a few folk as well and earn some cash?
- Nick_C says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 13:04
  
  Won’t they will mainly be flying to destinations that aren’t geared up for passengers?
  - Mark says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 18:28
    
    Who doesn’t want to be taken to the aircraft breakers yard? 😉
- Chris Heyes says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 19:08
  
  Jill (Kinkell)@ i agree with you take a few folk to breakers yard lol
  Any suggestions which folk ? lol
  - Amber Lynn says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 19:16
    
    Don’t worry people, There will be some special flights prior to mark the end of BA commercial 747 flights
  - Jill (Kinkell) says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 21:41
    
    Well now……where to start…….at the top?!
Nick_C says:

17 Jul17 July 12:53

I don’t know about BA, but the 747 was originally designed for a 2-4-3 configuration in economy.

When I first flew on a Jumbo in 1980, it had already been densified to the 3-4-3 that we accept as normal today (although with substantially greater seat pitch than we have now. 34″ to 36″was normal.
Lloyd says:

17 Jul17 July 12:55

I was aware of 3 747’s repainted in heritage colours, but the release states four? BOAC, Land or and Nevis but what was the fourth 747? The BEA was an A319.
- Lloyd says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 12:56
  
  Landor and Negus! Autocorrect!
  - AJA says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 15:17
    
    That’s a great autocorrection :-). And you’re right BA only repainted 3 747s.
- Rhys says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 12:57
  
  Yes, I wasn’t sure either…..
  - Mark says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 17:56
    
    I’m sure there’s other inaccuracies / misleading implications in there as well. Pretty sure the upper deck of the 747-400 was never used as a lounge for example – that idea was ditched pretty early on in the 70s with many 747-100s gaining the additional upper deck windows necessary to put in additional seating up there (as opposed to the 3 on each side shown in the picture of the BOAC 747-100).
    - Jonny Price says:
      
      20 Jul20 July 11:13
      
      The original press release has been corrected if you look at the BA Media Centre website. THREE jumbos were painted in retro liveries and the last 747 was delivered to BA in 1999 (not 1989 as the original release suggests).
Stuart says:

17 Jul17 July 16:34

The fourth was the A319 in BEA livery which along with the Landor livery 747 was here in Bournemouth until recently
- Flyguy says:
  
  19 Jul19 July 14:37
  
  It still is in Bournemouth as of 18th Jul
Peter North says:

17 Jul17 July 17:32

You didn’t break the news that BA was ceasing 747 operations, it had been trailed prior to your article.
- Rob says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 17:44
  
  It had been rumoured but not announced. We had the announcement on social media within 10 minutes of the Alex Cruz email to staff being sent and were the first to get an article up about 30 minutes later. Hence Apple News choosing us as their featured article this morning leading to 344,000 people reading it.
Alex Sm says:

17 Jul17 July 17:57

“BOAC operated its first 747 London to New York service on 14th April 1971 and in July 1989 the first British Airways 747-400, the aircraft type the airline still flies today, took to the skies.

For the next decade the airline took delivery of 56 more of the aircraft, with its final plane delivered in April 1989. At the time, it was the largest commercial aircraft in the world, and it remained so until the Airbus A380 first took to the skies in 2007.”

That decade between 1989 and 1989 was unusually short!