It’s Sunday, and its time to look back at some Airplane Art.
This week, we’re going to a little retrospective. As you know, British Airways retired its Boeing 747-400 fleet this week, as a response to the lack of demand of travel due to COVID-19.
Let’s go through my archive and look back at happier times when the Queen of the Skies dominated the air.
Head on (2011)
I seem to have a few on tow… (2012)
At Hong Kong International (2012)
A traditional home away from home for the BA Boeing 747-400 – JFK (2015)
From the Heathrow Tower (2016)
I
In the fog at Heathrow (2017)
Morning lineup of Boeing 747-400’s (2017)
Climbing out of Chicago O’Hare (2019)
British Airways BOAC Boeing 747-400 arriving into Heathrow (2019)
The Negus retrojet arriving at Heathrow (2019)
Fittingly, one of the last Boeing 747-400 aircraft to depart Heathrow was the Negus retrojet.
Touching down (2019).
The last two aircraft left the British Airways fleet on Thursday. G-CIVY (in Chatham Dockyard livery) performed a circled over the southerly runway in a farewell to its home before heading to St Athan where the aircraft will be retired. Meanwhile, G-CIVB, painted in the airline’s historic Negus livery retired to Kemble
Between the two aircraft, they have flown 104 million miles in their 47 years of service.
British Airways expects the last 747s (currently positioned in Wales) to leave the fleet by the end of the year.
For British Airways and its forerunners, this closes a major chapter of history, with the BOAC taking delivery of the first 747 in 1969. British Airways took on the type in 1974 when BOAC and BEA merged, with the airline operating the Boeing 747-100, Boeing 747-200 and Boeing 747-400 during its time – a total of 51 years in service, connecting the UK to the world.
From now onwards, that duty will fall to the Airbus A350-1000, the Airbus A380, Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 787-8, Boeing 787-9, and Boeing 787-10.
More Airplane Art next week.
Photographers Notes:
- Camera: All Canon (EOS 20D/EOS40D/EOS 6D and EOS R)
- Shot over many years.
- Original links to articles if you want to dive into some history.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates! You can follow me on Instagram too!
Also remember that as well as being part of BoardingArea, we’re also part of BoardingArea.eu, delivering frequent flyer news, miles and points to the European reader.