JOHN TRAVOLTA COMES TO BID FAREWELL TO 747 JUMBO JET

Boeing, the world’s top American aircraft manufacturer, has bid farewell to its iconic 747 Jumbo Jet. Well-known American actor and pilot John Travolta was on the tarmac to see the final plane’s delivery to U.S. airline Atlas Air on Tuesday afternoon. This marked the end of an era when the first-ever ‘jumbo jet’ ruled the world skies. Thousands of Boeing employees, including some of those who developed the jet in the 1960s, witnessed the last delivery of the historic plane, which brought air travel to the masses. The event at the mammoth manufacturing plant saw a celebrity appearance by John Travolta, who recounted learning to fly the 747-400 as an ambassador for Qantas Airlines. Travolta described the plane as “the most thought out and safest aircraft ever built.” The 747 was the world’s first twin-aisle jetliner, which Boeing designed and built in 28 months and Pan Am introduced it in 1970. Guy Norris, co-author of “Boeing 747: Design and Development Since 1969”, said that “It’s the airplane that redefined the civil aviation industry and air travel.” British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, who was inspired to start an airline with a single Boeing 747 after getting stuck on a delayed flight, called it a “wonderful beast” as he bid farewell. Boeing’s Everett, Washington, facility has been the 747’s production site since the plane’s conception. Built in 1967 to produce the mammoth jet, it remains the world’s largest manufacturing plant. Customers demand for the 747 eroded after five decades as Boeing and rival French Airbus developed more fuel efficient two-engine wide-body planes. Boeing confirmed in July 2020 that it would end 747 production. In 2022, Boeing delivered only five 747s.