British Airways retires jumbo fleet

London, July 17: British Airways, the world’s largest operator of Boeing 747s, will retire its entire jumbo jet fleet with immediate effect after the Covid-19 pandemic sent air travel into freefall.

For over 50 years, Boeing’s “Queen of the Skies” has been the world’s most easily recognised jetliner with its humped fuselage and four engines. But its days were already numbered before the pandemic struck earlier this year.

British Airways (BA) had been planning to retire the aircraft in 2024, but with passenger numbers decimated this year, and experts forecasting it will be years before they recover, the airline said it was unlikely its 747s would operate commercially again.

French car giant Peugeot S.A. (Groupe PSA) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the world’s eighth largest ItalianAmerican auto maker, have rebranded as a new automotive company called Stellantis after announcing a merger late last year.

The names and the logos of the new Group’s constituent brands will remain unchanged, they said in a statement.

FCA already has a presence

“It is with great sadness that we can confirm we are proposing to retire our entire 747 fleet with immediate effect,” BA said in a statement on Thursday.

The 747 democratised global air travel in the 1970s, but fell behind modern twin-engine aircraft and now trails newer planes in fuel efficiency, making it expensive to in India through the Jeep, Fiat and Maserati brands, while PSA will enter the Indian market with the debut of its Citroen brand next year.

It remains to be seen how the corporate proceedings of the merged run.

BA’s predecessor airline BOAC first introduced the 747 on the London-New York route in 1971 after a one-year delay caused by a dispute with pilots over the terms for flying the new jet.

Hugh Dibley, a former BOAC captain and racing driver who joined the airline in 1958, said the 747’s companies pan out in India, though the car brands are expected to maintain their individual identities.

Jeep is currently working on a facelift for the Compass, in addition to a 7-seat version of the SUV.

Citroen India will be launching its first product – the C5 Aircross – next year, followed by a compact SUV with high levels of localisation.

Groupe PSA and FCA joined in a 50-50 merger on Dec. 19, 2019. The rebranding to Stellantis was announced Thursday, as introduction marked a new era, but was beset with teething problems with its engines.

Landing and taxiing also took some getting used to, from a cockpit positioned almost 30 feet above the ground — or more when angling the nose higher just before touching the runway.

“It was a delight to fly as it was so stable. The initial issue was its height from the ground. It was like landing a block of flats from the 2nd floor,” Dibley told Reuters.

BA’s jumbos are the 747400 model, the most-sold version of the jet which was introduced in 1989. After BA, only a handful of airlines including Rossiya Airlines and Air China continue to operate them, according to Cirium data. the two companies move toward completing the terms defined in their agreement. They said Stellantis is rooted in the Latin verb “stello” which means “to brighten the stars.” and hope Stellantis will be “one of the new leaders in the next era of mobility, while at the same time preserving all the exceptional value and the values of its constituent parts.”

The companies said the name Stellantis exemplifies the “ambitious alignment of storied automotive brands”.