747

Long Live The Queen

They call her the Queen of the Skies. Even the most ardent aviation republican – people who look into the face of progress and see a big twinjet like the Boeing 777-300ER, or a mid-size composite airframe like the Boeing 787 or Airbus A350 – would admit that the Boeing 747 has been aviation’s head of state for over 40 years.

With few orders for the Boeing 747-8I, caught between the rock of ETOPS and the hard place of twinjet operationing economics, the jumbo jet prepares for her consignment to the desert boneyard of history. Of traditional 747 operators, just Lufthansa, Air China – taking its first at the beginning of October – and Korean Air, whose first is dueto arrive in 2015, plan to operate the world’s longest commercial aircraft. Russian carrier Transaero, a primarily charter and leisure carrier, has also placed orders for just four 747-8I deliveries.