Just over 54 years since the Boeing 747 was first displayed to the public, the last one to be produced rolled off the production line at Boeing’s Paine Field factory in Everett, Washington, USA on 6 December 2022.
The aircraft, a Boeing 747-8F (c/n 67150), is the 1574th 747 to be produced and will be delivered to Atlas Air (registered as N863GT) in early 2023 following final painting and a number of shakedown flights. Boeing took the decision to stop the production of all 747 series aircraft in July 2020 as the market for new aircraft was depressed following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the aviation industry.
Roll-out of the first Boeing 747, prototype RA001 (N7470), in September 1968
The first Boeing 747, prototype RA001 (N7470; c/n 20235), was rolled out at Everett on 30 September 1968 before its maiden flight on 9 February 1969. The 747 first entered service with former American airline Pan Am on 22 January 1970, flying from New York to London.
Nigel Richardson
More Boeing 747 Content
To mark the end of Boeing 747 production, we are going to be producing a series of articles and interesting content relating to the Jumbo Jet, for both regular and Premium Airport Spotting members.
Keep visiting to see some of these special features.
Author
1 comment
We have lost not only the Queen of the Skies, but a cultural icon and a pillar of human engineering. The end of the 747 is just more proof that the future began, and ended, many decades ago. Never again will air travel be as affordable or luxurious, not in the rest of humanity’s existence will an aircraft give wings to the public masses like the 747 did. It’s not that the 747 wasn’t good enough for airlines, it’s that a civilization in decline was no longer good enough for the 747.