Boeing 747 extends its reign as British Airways renews fleet

If it’s the end of the line for Boeing Co.’s 747 jetliner, nobody told British Airways.

The largest operator of the humpbacked icon – dubbed the Queen of the Skies on its debut in 1970 – is plumping up seat cushions, hanging fresh curtains and upgrading entertainment systems on 18 planes. Yet competitors can’t seem to park the four-engine aircraft fast enough.

Upgrading the best-selling 747-400 version of the jumbo bucks a wave of retirements that have cast doubt on the model’s future, with Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Japan Airlines Co., which once vied with BA for the title of No. 1 operator, ending flights more than three years ago. Demand for the latest 747-8 variant has also faded as airlines prefer leaner twin-jet types.

A clue to BA’s lingering love affair with the 747 lies in the model’s ability to eke out capacity from scarce operating slots at its London Heathrow hub at a time when lower fuel prices make retaining older planes an option. The revamped jets, the first of which returns next month from a refit center in Cardiff, Wales, will also get 16 extra business-class seats, aiding deployment on lucrative trans-Atlantic services.

“It makes hard business sense,” JLS Consulting Director John Strickland said. “These aircraft have a lot of life in them and can be used in very effective commercial ways. Given the capacity constraints at Heathrow and the high demand they have on certain routes, it’s still a very good model.”

While BA has parked or scrapped 15 of its oldest 747s, about half its remaining 42 planes were built in the late 1990s, and “ought to have a good 10 years of life at least left in them,” said George Ferguson, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.

Of the 694 747-400s built between 1988 and 2009, only 266 passenger variants remain in service, down from 362 in 2011, according to analysis of fleet data held by Ascend Worldwide, he said. Most are retired as they approach their mid-20s.

Air New Zealand Ltd., ANA Holdings Inc., Malaysia Airlines and Philippine Airlines Inc. have abandoned the 747-400 this decade and Delta Air Lines Inc. will retire its last 13 by 2017.

The arrival of Boeing’s 777 in 1995, just six years after the -400’s introduction, marked the start of the jumbo’s slow decline, with its stablemate able to carry almost as many people but with two engines. The latest 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus Group SE A350 are hastening the retreat by combining twin-jet economics with composite materials that offer a 20 percent efficiency saving versus planes far newer than the 747.

United Airlines will speed retirement of 21 747s once its first A350s arrive from 2017, said spokeswoman Megan McCarthy. (Bloomberg)