Sources say Boeing is pulling the plug on its 747 jumbo jet after a half-century run.
Hump-nosed jumbo jet still plays a vital role for cargo carriers
Boeing Co hasn’t told employees, but the company is pulling the plug on its hulking 747 jumbo jet, ending a half-century run for the twin-aisle pioneer.
“The last 747-8 will roll out of a Seattle-area factory in about two years, a decision that hasn’t been reported but can be teased out from subtle wording changes in financial statements,’’ people familiar with the matter said.
It’s a moment that aviation enthusiasts long have dreaded, signaling the end of the double-decker, four-engine leviathans that shrank the world.
Airbus SE is already preparing to build the last A380 jumbo, after the final convoy of fuselage segments rumbled to its Toulouse, France, plant last month.
Yet for all their popularity with travellers, the final version of the 747 and Europe’s superjumbo never caught on commercially as airlines turned to twin-engine aircraft for long-range flights. While Boeing’s hump-nosed freighters will live on, the fast-disappearing A380 risks going down as an epic dud.
The grand jetliners also face another indignity: The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to leave their manufacturers scrounging to find buyers for the last jumbos built.
“As it turned out, the number of routes for which you need an ultralarge aircraft are incredibly few,” said Sash Tusa, an analyst with Agency Partners.
Boeing’s “Queen of the Skies” debuted in 1970, an audacious bet that transformed travel but almost bankrupted the company. Passenger versions boasted a spiral staircase to a luxurious upstairs lounge. Freighter models featured a hinged nose that flipped open to load everything from cars to oil-drilling gear.
The 747 went on to rack up 1,571 orders over the decades — second among wide-body jets only to Boeing’s 777.