Farewell, but not the end for 747s

There may be no airliner as recognisable as the Boeing 747, the world's first jumbo jet, with its iconic hump of an upper deck. For aviation fans, the introduction of the “Queen of the Skies" was a triumph of engineering and grace: unprecedented size and speed with spiral-staircase international glamour.

But the airline business has changed, and the giant plane has become more expensive to operate. A couple of weeks ago, the final 747 flight by any commercial United States airline took to the sky.

Like so many others before it, the plane was heading to the Southwest to retire.

A passer-by at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport might have noticed something unusual as Boeing 747 No 6314 pushed back from the gate for the last time. Onlookers in the terminal waved farewell as the plane, operated by Delta Air Lines, taxied out to the runway. Undeterred by the chilly weather, even members of the ground crew pulled out their phones to memorialize this flight in photos.

On board was a small group of passengers - mostly Delta employees. Paul Gallaher was serving as first officer. Earlier in his career, as a pilot for Northwest Airlines, he had helped fly a fleet of brand-new Northwest 747s from Boeing to the airline's base in Minneapolis. Delta inherited those planes when the companies merged 10 years ago. Like No 6314, he would retire when the flight touched down.

Back in the cabin, Gene Peterson, another Delta 747 captain, and Holly Rick, a flight attendant, had other plans. They had met when they were on a 747 charter flight crew in 2009. Now they prepared to walk down the aisle - not just to their seats, but to say "I do." They did, somewhere over Memphis.

"I'm going to cry before today is over," said Rebecca Johnson, one of the flight attendants on board. "It's just part of aviation history. To be a part of it is kind of awe inspiring."

Four hours after takeoff, the jumbo jet was circling above cotton fields in Arizona's Sonoran Desert, preparing to make its final approach to Pinal Airpark, where its next chapter would begin.

The 747 revolutionized the way people traveled when it began service in 1970. Mark Vanhoenacker, a pilot for British Airways and the author of "Skyfaring: A Journey With a Pilot," wrote in The New York Times last year that the aircraft took advantage of economies of scale to make long-distance air travel affordable to the masses for the first time.

The airline business has changed, and the giant plane has become more expensive to operate