Last Qantas 747 traces kangaroo flight path on farewell trip

Qantas’s last “Queen of the Skies” gave one final flourish as it departed Australia’s shores on Wednesday, with its flight path over the New South Wales coastline. 

Pilots of Qantas’s last Boeing 747 gave a last salute to the plane by tracing the outline of Qantas’s famous marsupial logo. 

After taking off from Sydney Airport, the plane also took a swoop over Sydney Harbour and made a brief diversion south to pay tribute to Qantas’s original 747 400 City of Canberra, now housed at an aviation museum in Wollongong.

The jet then headed out to trace its kangaroo-shaped flight path over the Tasman Sea before its final hop across the Pacific Ocean.

Owen Zupp was one of the six pilots who were on board the flight, which was brought forward from the end of the year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Zupp said he would look back with fondness on the journey after delivering the plane to its final destination.

“Once that is done I think it will be a memory that we can look back on with great pride,” said Zupp. “It is significant not just for Qantas’ history but aviation.”

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The jumbo jet was given a water cannon salute on the runway before takeoff

A 50-year run winding down for jumbo jet

Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce, who signed the plane’s fuselage ahead of its last trip, said the 747 had helped make international travel affordable for many Australians.

“It overcame the tyranny of distance that was and continued to be an issue for Australia,” Joyce told the group of some 150 people who had gathered for the socially-distanced send-off.

The plane is one of six sold to multinational conglomerate General Electric. It will deliver a cargo of freight to Los Angeles before flying on to its retirement in California’s Mojave Desert.

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Qantas 747s carried more than 250 million people across almost five decades of service. They have included Queen Elizabeth II and every Australian Olympic team since 1984. The airline was once the only carrier in the world with an all-747 fleet.

• Boeing 747 set for retirement: Goodbye to the original jumbo jet?

  Long-haul icon to be retired

  Over the past five decades, Boeing’s double-decker 747 jetliner has helped revolutionize global air travel. The invention of the huge jumbo jet allowed the expansion of giant hub airports, where passengers could easily make long-haul journeys and then connect to regional airports on smaller planes.

• Boeing 747 set for retirement: Goodbye to the original jumbo jet?

  Growth impaired by oil crisis

  The long-range, wide-body jetliner entered service on January 21, 1970. US airline Pan Am bought 25 planes and got to make the first commercial voyage from New York to London. However, shortly after launch, a severe recession and the 1973 oil crisis put a lid on orders for the jet and several airlines grounded their 747s as they were too costly to fly.

• Boeing 747 set for retirement: Goodbye to the original jumbo jet?

  Traveling in style

  The 747 was not only praised for its technical innovations, it also stood for glamor. With a lounge serving cocktails, it promised a sleek and relaxed travel experience. At more than 70 meters (230 feet) long and with a wingspan of almost 60 meters, it offered space for between 366 and 550 passengers, depending on how the seats were arranged.

• Boeing 747 set for retirement: Goodbye to the original jumbo jet?

  Crashes and hijackings hurt reputation

  The jumbo did have its fair share of disasters, including a bomb explosion on Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988 which killed 270 people over the small town of Lockerbie in Scotland. In 1986, a Pan Am jet was hijacked by four Palestinian men and flown to Frankfurt. Pictured above is the wreckage of two 747s, which collided in March 1977 at an airport in Tenerife, killing 583 passengers and crew.

• Boeing 747 set for retirement: Goodbye to the original jumbo jet?

  Stretched and reengineered

  The latest passenger edition, the 747-8 series, was launched in 2012. The first 8 Intercontinental was delivered to German flag carrier Lufthansa. It can carry 467 passengers in a typical three-class configuration and has a range of 7,730 nautical miles (14,310 kilometers). The series is also available in variants for government and military use, including Air Force One for the US president.

• Boeing 747 set for retirement: Goodbye to the original jumbo jet?

  Now a flying dinosaur

  Like the even bigger Airbus A380 (in the foreground), the 747 no longer meets the economic requirements of airlines that prefer long-haul, dual-engine aircraft such as the A350 or the Boeing 777 and 787. In the past year, there were only 20 or so outstanding orders for the 747, all of them for freight carriers.

  Author: Nik Martin

Even before the current coronavirus pandemic, the four-engine model had been nearing the end of its likely lifespan, with more economically efficient and smaller capacity models preferred by many airlines. Qantas, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and KLM have all now brought forward retirement plans because of COVID-19 and the lack of demand for international air travel, especially at jumbo jet volumes.

Qantas has canceled most of its international flights until at least July 2021 because of Australian government travel restrictions.

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rc/msh (AFP, Reuters)

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