What Passed off To The Boeing 747?

When you see the 747 takeoff or land, it's almosttransfixing because the plane itself is so beautifullydesigned. Boeing called her the super jet, the press calledher jumbo. It makes the best landing of any airplane. And you are in awe that somebody even dreamt thatthis could fly. Since its first commercial flight in 1970,Boeing's 747 jumbo jet has flown over 3.5 billion passengers. Its development back in the 1960s was measured inbillions of dollars. It was a pretty expensive airplane to develop atits time.

We're building a whole new class of airplane, thebiggest airplane in the world. It's one of the most recognizable planes to taketo the skies with its iconic hump four engines, extensive landing gear and sheer size. The 747-8 tail height is equivalent to a sixstory building. It has a wingspan as wide as two 737-700s linedup nose to tail. It can travel 7,790 nautical miles, carry over450 passengers with a takeoff weight of nearly £1 million. The 747 ushered in more affordable long haul airtravel by increasing capacity and lowering ticket costs.

It quickly became known as the queen of the skiesand was the first plane to have two aisles and overhead bins. Boeing was already on the map when the 747 cameout, but what the 747 did for Boeing was inject the company with alittle bit more glamor, a little bit more sexiness. The 747 was always intended to have dual roles. It was designed from the beginning to carry bothpassengers and cargo. The flight deck was put on top of the plane sothat the nose would open for easier loading. This gave the 747 its upper deck.

Boeing produced the 747 for the last 55 years,during which a total of 1,574 airplanes were built for over 100 pluscustomers. The list price for a 747-8 in 2022 was over $400million. But over the last few decades, airlines havelooked for more ways to cut costs and to make airplanes as efficient as possible. Airlines even coming out of the pandemic, aretrying to save as much money as they can. So they are looking for ways to have planes thatare the most efficient possible. And right now, those are two engine jets. The last 747 just rolled out of its Everett,Washington, factory.

It will go to Atlas Air for cargo deliveries. CNBC takes a look at how the 747 changed aviationand what the future looks like for Boeing's future aircraft. It was the beginning of the jet age. In the 1950s, Boeing introduced the 707 America'sfirst jet airliner. Jet engines were safer, cheaper and faster thanpiston engines. The number of people flying quadrupled between1955 and 1972 as it became faster, more accessible and financially possible. Pan American World Airways or Pan Am was one ofthe biggest carriers at the time.

So Pan American came to Boeing and said, we needan airplane twice the size of the 707. The head of Pan American Airways JuanneTripp said to Bill Allen, the CEO of Boeing. If you build that airplane, I'll buy it. And Bill Allen turned to one trip, said, if youbuy it, I'll build it. And that's how the 747 got started. In 1966, Pan Am put in an order for 25, new 747s. One of the original design ideas for the 747really was going along with what Pan American wanted, and that was building adouble decker.

Building a plane twice the size of its predecessorhad a significant amount of challenges. The first iterations of the design were entirelydouble decker, but that made it difficult to evacuate potentially 500 passengers safely and ina timely manner. And this moment of innovation came in, and thatwas instead of making a double decker, why don't we make a wider airplane? Why don't we make a twin aisle go 20 feet wide. And so the twin aisle, the widebody jet was born. Even though the design wasn't a full doubledecker, it was still twice the size of the 707 and required new innovations.

What made it possible to make this giant jet was arevolution in engine technology. These new engines, especially compared to theturbojet engines, that they were very efficient. The 747 wasn't Boeing's biggest project at thetime. It was also working on the 2707 supersonictransport or SST. What's interesting about the 747 when it was firstintroduced is airlines expected it to be an interim aircraft that they would usebetween their first generation of jets and the coming wave of supersonic planesthat were expected to enter service later in the 1970s. So the designers of the 747, they understood this,that at some point in the future, the.

747s would be converted into freighters. And so they purposely set out to make the 747 theperfect freighter. The SST program lost government funding and theprototypes were never finished. Well, obviously the supersonic era didn't happenquite the way we expected. And so frankly, I think that led to a much longerlife and much greater success for the 747. Once they finalized the specs for the plane. How are airports going to handle thisplane that is more than twice as large with a wingspan, more than twice the width of previousaircraft and an airplane that is much heavier.

So that led to how Boeing designed the landinggear. It has 18 wheels and that's designed to spreadout the weight of the plane so that it could use existing runways. But some airports had to widen their runways andtaxiways. They built new terminals to handle this. They had to invest in new baggage handlingsystems. In fact, the plane was so big, Boeing had to builda plant around it during its construction in Everett, Washington. Today, that building is thebiggest in the world by volume. And where Boeing builds its other widebodies.

These costs, along with the SST project and thedevelopment of its other new jet, the 737 created a significant financial strain on the company. One of the biggest challenges for Boeing, how dothey fund building it? Boeing bet the house on the 747. There were people who said literally that thisairplane would not fly. There were also people who said financially thisairplane would not fly. It was a tremendous risk. That became one of the big issues in those daysthat the money to build this airplane that Boeing had to negotiate with, with creditorsconstantly to keep this program.

Going, to keep the company going. But that didn't stop Boeing. Joe Sutter, who is known as the father of the747, led the design team and they, along with other Boeing employees, were nicknamed TheIncredibles for building the 747 in just 29 months. When the first 747 rolled out of the factory. It was a huge event. All of the airlines whoplaced an order sent flight attendants to represent them, and each company's logo wasincluded on the fuselage. In 1970, Boeing delivered 93 total 747 aircraftwith over 60 passenger.

Versions. Pan Am will bring you the world's first 747. Pan Am operated the first commercial flight in1970. When it arrived in London, crowds of spectatorsgreeted the arrival. Because the public was so entranced with the 747. All of the major airlines had to have thisairplane as their flagship. Its jumbo size was something passengers, pilotsand flight attendants had to get used to. My first introduction to the 747 was as a flightattendant in 1972. It was huge. All of a sudden, the biggestairplane up until the end was a 707 that needed.

Five or six flight attendants. The 747 needed 14, and it had five differentsections and each section was a different size. It was chaos at the beginning. So many airlines used the upper deck level oftheir first versions of the 747 as lounges for their first class passengers. Some airlines had lounges in coach, and AmericanAirlines even had a piano bar in coach on its 747 for short time. Very extravagant. Very luxurious.

We had fresh flowers in crystal vases. Each meal had a special wine that was paired withit and had to learn how to properly open champagne. The first ever 747 prototype is still on displayat the Museum of Flight in Seattle. This is the upper deck experience. This was the interior that Boeing used to showthe airlines the possibility of what that first class, that premier experience,that premier flying experience could be. Passengers could come up the spiral staircase andhave a moment in the lounge. It was the favorite airplane of the pilots.

Captain Lynn Rippelmeyer would eventually becomethe first woman to pilot a 747 and the first woman to captain a 747 transatlantic flight. She got her start flying cargo for Seaboard WorldAirlines. They had professional engineers. So if you got hired as a pilot, you immediatelywent to the first officer seat. So this very unique set of circumstances happenedat the exact right time for me to get hired by Seaboard World. And as a 747 first officer andbecome the first woman to fly a 747. I went to work for PeoplExpress first as a 737first officer upgraded with any gear to.

Captain again, which is almost unheard of. And then we got 747s. So I became a 747 captain at People Express in1984. I had so much confidence in that plane. It flies beautifully, I think, why many pilotslike it is. It makes the best landing of any airplane. The plane was designed for long haul flights,making international travel more accessible and affordable. It only went to what we would consider to beimportant cities, major markets, world.

Capitals. And having the 747 serve your airportwas a badge of honor. What was also interesting is airlines viewed the747 as legitimizing them. So a lot of airlines ordered the 747 when it wasfirst introduced, even though probably they shouldn't have. It also helped transform the air cargo market. It wasn't long that the 747 with its capacity tobe a great freighter, but that freighter version cameout and that was in the early seventies with Lufthansa. And this is really where the airplanecame into its own.

Airlines all over the world have flown the 747. It really runs the gamut from United Airlines toDelta Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, British Airways, Qantas. It was really a plane that flew all over theworld. Over the next few decades. The 747 continued to evolve with newer, improvedversions. It also served other purposes like governmenttransport, including Air Force One. In 1977, Boeing delivered a modified 747 to NASAto use to ferry the space shuttle from its landing spot in California back to CapeCanaveral in Florida.

In 1988, the 747-400 was introduced. This version had more efficient engines, longerrange and a modernized cockpit. It was the company's best selling version. Overall, the 747 safety record has been good. That's not to say it's been perfect. Some of these problems, though, are more airlinerelated in terms of their maintenance than the design of the airplane. But the 747 has been involved with some verytragic events. Two of the most visible were the bombing of PanAm 103, a flight from.

London to New York and the crash of TWA Flight800 off the coast of Long Island, both of which were 747. But the 747 was a well designed aircraft. It actually is probably the safest airplane in theair because of so many redundancies. The more engines you have, the morebackups you have to all the systems, because each engine provides the hydraulic power, theelectrics, the pneumatics, the air conditioning, everything that theairplane needs comes from an engine. And when you have four of them, you've got threebackups. That airplane can fly on one engine.

It's not going to keep altitude. You're going to want to be pretty close to arunway, but everything will still be working that you need to get the airplane safely backdown on the ground. Boeing saw a rise in deliveries through the 1990sbefore its decline. The 747 was one of the most geographically widely ordered airplane in the world for a planeof its size. It helped spur the development of the airline huband spoke route networks that we now take for granted. But the 747 was not an airplane designedto serve shorter routes. And so as a result, that limitedthe appeal of the.

747 and it also limited the usefulness of the747. Fares, routes and service were regulated by thefederal government until the Airline Deregulation Act was enacted in 1978. This created more competition among the airlinesand brought fair prices down. It also created dozens of new airlines and theexpansions of smaller ones. With these large planes, they would funnel largenumbers of passengers and then funnel them through large hubs. But what passengers want now is tofly nonstop to their destinations. And it turns out that the more fuel efficientplanes, the leaner planes are able to do that. And that's something that has essentially killedboth superjumbo jets.

With four engines, of course, you're going to usemore fuel than you than you are with three or two. So they were finding ways to fly an airplane muchcheaper and more efficiently. And the 74 didn't cut it. It's not because people don't like it certainlyisn't because pilots don't like it. In the eighties, airlines started to do away withthe luxurious lounges and replaced it with seats for increased revenue. Airlines also pack a lot more seats onto planesthan they used to. That is the idea. They want to get as many peopleinto coach as possible. In 1990, Boeing 747ss made up 28% of the world'spassenger widebody fleet.

That's down to just 2% in 2022. And despite the rise in air freight during thepandemic in 2022, the 747 made up just 21% of the world's widebody cargo fleet, downfrom 71% in 1990. In fact, Pan Am clung to that plane far too long,and it's partially responsible for the airline's demise. In 1991, Pan Am ended operations. So from the mid 1980s into the 2000s, you sawfewer and fewer airlines flying 747. Those that had them generally reduce the numberof 747s in their fleet.

Despite all these signs that airlines were movingaway from four engine aircraft, Airbus, Boeing's main competitor, launched its superjumbo, theA380, in 2007. The company spent billions on developing it andovertook the 747 as the world's largest commercial plane. It is a full double decker and could beconfigured to seat as many as 853 passengers. But many airlines were already movingaway from the 747 and the hub and spoke model for more efficient twin engine aircraft. Airbus ended production of the A380 in 2021. The end of the 747 was pretty much inevitable andby some measures, maybe even by Boeing's own doing.

This is the last 747. Number 1,574. When we visited Boeing's Everett, Washingtonfactory, the company was putting the final touches on it before heading out to be painted and flighttested. It's an exciting and emotional time for us. The 747 has been absolutely transformational,certainly to all of aviation. And as part of that to Boeing, it laid thefoundation for the twin aisle aircraft that followed. Boeing's only going to build planes that airlineswant.

The orders stopped coming in for the 747 becauseBoeing and others have built other aircraft that can do the same job that the 747can or close to it. So the 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus a350 canfly routes that the 747 couldn't. They can go much further nonstop. The company delivered its last passenger versionto Korean Air in 2017. That same year, all US airlines stopped flyingit. When the 747 were retired, people were really sad. United's last 747 flight from San Francisco toHawaii had its departure covered live.

On television in San Francisco. It was a big deal. Boeing 747 was the most successful widebody until2018, after Boeing's 777 took the number one slot. When you look at the 777-8 freighter andyou compare it to the 747, it can carry similar to cargo levels, but withthe twin engine economics and it has over 30% reduction in fuel burn, whichis great for our customers efficiency as well as for sustainability and theenvironment. Demand for cargo versions remained strong until2020, when the company announced it would end production of the 747 freighter version.

It just really made sense that we would shift tothe twin engine model over the four engine model of the 747. Atlas Air has the largest fleet of747s and will take final delivery of the last plane in early 2023. The ending of the 747 comes at a time when theaviation industry is looking to transform itself with more fuel efficient, environmentallyfriendly technologies. Boeing CEO recently said the company would notdesign a new airplane in the next decade, while the company waits for new fuel efficient enginesto be developed. Since advances in engine technology doesn't yetwarrant enough of a fuel cut for buyers. The ends of the 747 is pretty much the least ofthe issues that are going on at.

Boeing right now. This is a manufacturer that in2018 and 2019 had two of its best selling 737 max planes crash and 346people were killed. Since then, the company has beentrying to regain its footing. It has picked up sales of those aircraft onceagain. But it's not the only thing that Boeing isdealing with. It also had production flaws on its 787 Dreamlinerthat delayed deliveries for almost two years. There's a third front that Boeing is dealing with,which was the replacement essentially for the 747, the 777x, and that's a plane that has beendelayed and delayed and delayed and it's not going to be delivered and flying forcustomers until at least early 2025.

So the end of the 747 is kind of this turningpoint for the company. In the meantime, airlines looking to purchaselarge widebody aircraft are turning to Boeing's 777 and Dreamliner, as well as Airbus, A350 andA330. United Airlines placed the largest order of anycommercial carrier for widebodies, and that was for 100 Dreamliners. And they have options to buy 100 more. As for the queen of the skies, the end ofproduction doesn't mean you won't see her flying around anymore. There are 396, 747s still flying. 311 are freight, 44 of them are passenger planesand 41 for VIP or.

Private service, including Virgin Orbit. Six airlines still operate the 747, Lufthansa isthe largest with 25 in its fleet. The airlines that have it will probably continueto operate it for maybe another ten years or so, perhaps a little bit longer. I think we'll continue to see the 747 operate asa freighter for decades to come because it's a really good freight airplane. There's plenty of other ways to experience a 747too. There are hotels, a water park and many otheraviation museums around the world that have them on display. A testament to how iconic andtransformative the queen of the skies has been.

Over the last several decades. The 747 is beloved in a way that most othercommercial airliners are not. I remember my first 747 flight. It was on American Airlines from Kennedy toDallas Love Field. I don't think you're going to see people cryingwhen the 777 or the 787 Dreamliner decades from now is retired. It they just don't have the same emotionalconnection. She was my first jet. That was the first jet Iever flew.

And I don't know if there's many other pilotsthat can say that. So I guess that's why she's my baby. And I think because I felt like if I took care ofher, she'd take care of me. You could say it's the hump, it's the shape, thesize, all those things. But what I think this airplane, it inspires usthat we can do these amazing things. And I think that that is what hascaptured everybody's imagination. Why is there such an emotional attachment to thisairplane that it just reminds us as human beings that we can do amazing things.

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