Boeing 747 : 50 years of an icon

On September 30, 1968, Boeing presented prototype 747 Everett site. On January 22, 1970, made a commercial flight with PanAm colors.

After almost ruining it, the famous Jumbo Jet, which revolutionized the history of long-haul travel, made Boeing’s fortune.
On September 30, 1968, the prototype of the 747 (the « RA001 ») left the Everett, Washington, plant and rolled out (its first wheel turns) on the tarmac. Fifty years later, the Jumbo Jet that Boeing is celebrating this Sunday is more than flattering.

In half a century, the first « wide-body » aircraft in the history of civil aviation carried the equivalent of 80% of the world’s inhabitants, reduced the size of the globe and introduced concepts (double-deck design, four-jet engine, etc.) that changed the face of long-haul travel.

On the verge of bankruptcy
Designed in the late 1960s in 28 months by the team led by Joe Sutter, Boeing’s fiery chief engineer, and built in less than 16 months by 50,000 workers, the 747 met the challenge imposed by its first customer. To take advantage of the booming commercial aviation market, the American airline PanAm had ordered an aircraft two and a half times larger than those of its competitors, an aircraft capable of offering 400 seats.

The development costs of the 747 brought the Seattle giant to the brink of bankruptcy. In 1970, its debt exceeded net assets by $800 million and 17 new aircraft were grounded due to a lack of engines, while the supplier, Pratt & Whitney, was unable to keep up.

But the PanAm made its first commercial flight on time. It was January 22nd, 1970, between New York and London. Six months later, its 747-100 had carried 1 million passengers on transatlantic routes, for a fare halved ($250). And 26 other airlines had ordered this model from Boeing.

The swan song
Rethought, adapted and declined (version 747-400 then 747-8) over the decades, the figures of the Jumbo blend with the names of emblematic owners, from Air Force One (the American presidential plane, NDLR) to Bruce Dickinson, the pilot singer of the rock band Iron Maiden who again put down his « Ed Force One » on 23 June in Nantes. At the August 2018 score, the aircraft manufacturer had sold 1,560 copies.

But even the giants eventually bow out. Faced with the sharp drop in orders since 2013, Boeing wrote to the Exchange on June 30, 2016: « If we are unable to obtain enough orders or reduce market and production risks, we could incur additional losses that could be material and it is reasonably possible that we would decide to stop production of the 747 ».

Air France operated its last commercial flight in 747- a Mexico-Paris on January 14, 2016. Entering the fleet in 1970, this « large docile boat, easy to pilot », as pilot Gérard Feldzer called it, will have enabled the tricolour wings to carry 250 million passengers. In the United States, the swan song was on December 19, 2017, Delta Air Lines had lined up a B747-400 for a flight between Seoul and Detroit.