Boeing Quietly Pulls Plug on the 747, Closing Era of Jumbo Jets

Did you see the legroom in the mock-up photo? Those were the days my friends....

I'm sad to hear this. I was in the Boeing Field Flight Tower when they were first doing the touch and go's. I was working at Plant II. I'm thinking this was in 1968. It was such an amazing sight - the beginning of a new era of flying.

Many 747's had cockpits with the air filtration system that was not connected to the rest of the plane. They also had their own food service area. That's why they were used so heavily to move folks around when Covid-19 first appeared. Do another large aircraft have this feature? If not, that might be a reason to keep these planes flying. Who knows were this pandemic is going to go.

I LOVE the 747's. I love flying on them and I love just watching them take off and land. Such a beautiful plane.... Sad..... I will miss them.

Wow! Top Secret. Nobody knows. Shhhhhh! What a silly headline.

For years I wanted to fly on a 747 but never had the right flight. Finally caught one out of Frankfurt on Lufthansa headed to US. Airline gave me an upgrade to premium economy and it was a most enjoyable long flight. Glad I finally made it before they were pulled from passenger service.

I flew home from Desert Storm on a World Airways 747. Abu Dhabi-Rome-Shannon, Ireland-New York-Tucson.

I hope the teams working on that assembly line will be okay. Nothing is certain for anyone at Boeing at present.

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. LOL No need to now. Flight Aware made them privy to this 'secret'

Not only the end of the B-747 but the end of all 4 engined airliners.

here is a telling comment, from the end of the referenced article : " Ultimately, Boeing’s decision on the 747 boiled down to resource allocation, said George Dimitroff, who leads valuations at aviation consultant Cirium. Could the assembly line floor space be better used on another airplane, such as the 767, which shares a bay in Boeing’s Everett, Washington, factory ? "

My personal take : such a move enables Everett to ramp production rate for 767-based USAF tankers, and a few 767 freighters for Fedex. Much less likely we'll ever see a 767 neo (re-engined) on that line, although I would personally welcome it.

Between my last 747 flight in 1997 and 2018 despite traveling overseas a fair amount I hadn't flown an another 747. But when I went to Greece two years ago I was able to fly on a Lufthansa 747-400 and I had forgotten just how much better and more comfortable the 747 was than the 777 even in coach. I really regret that its seen the end of its production but with the radical changes in aviation as of late and the even more radical changes coming in the next few years I guess there simply isn't a place for it. At least the Air Force One 747s will be flying far into the furture...

I remember one flight to HNL from DFW: My wife, 2 kids and I had first class to ourselves and Burt Bacerach. The bar upstairs had a basket of fruit on it plus enough booze for a regiment. I also flew jump seat on a couple of flights on that beautiful airplane. It was like no other and I will miss seeing it. God bless Boeing.

Love the 747. Sad its going away. Hope Boeing will continue to build 747 F

Sad, that all good things must come to an end! What a Majestic aircraft. My first flight on a 747 was right after finishing Helicopter flight school in '71. I was astounded, that Boeing was able to build such an aircraft. Just the thought of how many Huey helicopters it could carry at one time, and the overall capability was astonishing. An era, that the flying public will never experience again.

"Hulking"? Never: Queen of the Skies.

I flew the 747 dozens of times when I was living and working in West Germany/ BRD from 1980-1996. PAN AM/ TWA/ Lufthansa/ British Airways. I flew on a Combi Version from Frankfurt to San Francisco. Cool flying a 747 with just half the passengers on a conventional 747.

Didn’t I read that in the NYT weeks ago? At any rate I flew an early 747 LHR to JFK in 1970.

GOOD BYE BIG BEAUTIFUL BIRD! I have flown on a few and I remember being in sacramento at the airport once when PAN AM was training and the 747 was doing "touch and goes"..now that was something! I remember the 747 that carried the shuttle coming in to the houston airport once,and it is now parked for visitors to see at the Houston space center visitors center...

Flew over to Korea on a Northwest 747 MAC Charter w/abt 450 other service personnel, dependents from STL to Osan AFB via OAK & Yokota AFB, 12 hours between OAK & Yokota. Flew back on a 747 from Kimpo to SeaTac. Most memorable was landing @ Kai Tak in a Thai International 747 looking into someone’s apartment as they watched TV.

The 777-300ER freighter will likely be the replacement the 747-400F’s.

Sad day, but haters are happy.

Wow, what a surprise!