The Boeing 747 — What a History

The Boeing 747 made its first test flight over 40 years ago and entered commercial service in January 1970. Boeing has produced 1,400 variations and different configurations of the aircraft since then. Production continues today, though only 14 freighter versions of the 747 were produced last year.

British Airways wins the prize as the bigger user of this excellent aircraft. It operates 578 flights each week — 40 daily departures from London’s Heathrow airport alone. Apart from BA, Luftthansa and United Airlines are the only airlines in the top 10 users: the other seven are Asian airlines. Thirty passenger airlines operate scheduled service with 747-400s today. That’s approximately 4,000 weekly departures of this workhorse wide-body.

So who are the top 10 users besides BA, Lufthansa and United? They are JAL, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Korean Air, China Airlines and Thai Airways.

The most successful type of the 747 is the 747-400. Around 650 of this type are now operated by airlines around the world, though production of the passenger version ceased in 2005. So you still have opportunity to fly this awesome aircraft — call Phoenix East Aviation today at 1-386-258-0703 or contact Phoenix East at www.pea.com.