Boeing is pulling the plug on its iconic 747 jumbo jets after completing the last of the 16 planes currently on order. Within the next two years or so the final 747 is expected to roll off the line, after which the model will have recorded more than 50 years in service.
The effects that the global health crisis has had across the aviation sector have only further depressed an already declining market for the mighty plane. A Boeing spokesperson disclosed to Reuters that at a build rate of 0.5 jets per month, the 747-8 program has over two years of production ahead of it to be able to fulfill the company's current client commitments.
Lovingly referred to as "Queen of the Skies", Boeing's gigantic planes first entered service in 1970, an ambitious undertaking that changed air travel but nearly made the group bankrupt. Commercial plane versions took pride in a spiral staircase to a posh upstairs lounge.
The company accurately projected the trend with the double-engine 777 and the 787 Dreamliner. With persuasion from Joe Sutter, a noted engineer who had led the original 747 programs, the aircraft manufacturer decided to make a relatively less costly upgrade of the four-engine jet to snag sales from the A380.
The Chicago, Illinois-based plane-maker has seen former 747 clients lean toward its more efficient double-engine models including the 777 and the 787 Dreamliner, as well as the Airbus A350. The group's most recent 747 order was from the United States Air Force, for the US President's state of the art Air Force One transport.
The trend toward less gigantic aircraft figures only to speed up as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a good number of carriers looking to reduce operating costs and realigning their schedules toward local flights. International travel demand is seen to take years to normalize, minimizing the need for bigger planes.
Boeing has shed around $40 million for every 747 since 2016, when the company eased manufacturing, rolling out just six planes per year, based on estimates by Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu. All told, Boeing has registered more than $4 billion in auditing fees for the 747-8, which has been kept active as a freighter.
In a related development, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing completed the compulsory re-certification flight tests on the 737 MAX on Wednesday, taking the aircraft a step closer to being approved to return to service.
Boeing is now required to accomplish an extensive list of requirements before they can be granted authorization to transport passengers again, a milestone now anticipated no sooner than the middle of September this year.
