British Airways Has Started To Retire Its 747 Fleet

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In the middle of last month, British Airways announced that it planned to retire its 31 Boeing 747 aircraft with immediate effect and starting yesterday, the airline’s 747s are now being shipped out to meet whatever fate awaits them.

Per British Airways:

British Airways today (Tuesday, 18 August 2020) retired its first Boeing 747 since announcing last month that all 31 of its jumbo jets had sadly flown their last commercial services.

The Boeing 747-400, registration G-CIVD, departed from London Heathrow this morning under flight number BA9170E after more than 25 magnificent years of flying.

The Boeing 747s that British Airways was operating up until the start of the current crisis were not scheduled for retirement until 2024 and, up until recently, the airline had been updating a number of its 747s’ interiors to see the aircraft through their final years. Sadly, that expenditure wasn’t enough to save the ‘Queen of the Skies’ from early retirement as the aircraft’s obvious inefficiencies made it first in line to be culled as soon as British Airways’ passenger numbers plummeted and, with no real end to the current crisis in sight and with travel not expected to reach the highs of 2019 for years, the decision to retire the greatest of all passenger aircraft was a relatively simple one for British Airways management to take.

The aircraft’s departure from Heathrow took place under appropriate grey and gloomy skies and tributes to the aircraft were made by Al Bridger, British Airways’ Director of Flight Operations:

“As a pilot who was lucky enough to fly the aircraft, the sheer scale of it was unforgettable, you literally looked down on other aircraft. It changed aviation forever when it arrived in the skies and I know I speak for our customers and the global aviation community when I say, despite rightly moving to more sustainable ways of flying, we will still miss the 747 dearly.”

G-CIVD’s last flight was to Lagos on 18 April 2020 as part of the repatriation effort as countries rushed to close their borders as the pandemic took hold.

You can watch a short video showing G-CIVD departing London Heathrow for the final time  HERE and, starting at around 1.29, there a nice exchange between the tower and the flight crew as the aircraft takes to the sky. Also, watch out for a somewhat ironic moment in the video as the 747’s departure is briefly obscured by a passing 787 Dreamliner – one of the aircraft that has eclipsed and replaced the 747.

Bottom Line

British Airways has started to ship out its fleet of 747s but there will be no last hurrah for fans of the aircraft to enjoy. British Airways will not be putting on any farewell flights or touring the country with the aircraft to give avgeeks a chance to say goodbye. Covid-19 cut short the aircraft’s life in British Airways livery and denied it the farewell it deserves but, as incredibly sad as that is, in the grand scheme of things that’s not exactly the worst thing that’s happened this year.