After a one hour flight over Australian capital Canberra, Qantas has completed its third and final farewell flight with the Boeing 747.
The airline had accelerated the phase-out of its last five remaining Boeing 747-400 due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis. Most of Qantas fleet is currently grounded, with regular intercontinental services not set to resume until 2021. As a result, it withdrew the 747 from service in late-March.
And with this landing in Canberra, nearly 50 years of Qantas 747 passenger service comes to an end. https://t.co/UwJi3D3dXK pic.twitter.com/vBFfDJaSqJ
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 17, 2020
To pay tribute to the iconic aircraft type, Qantas decided to operate three special farewell flights over Sydney, Brisbane and now Canberra, which operated on July 13, July 15 and July 17 respectively. They were all operated by VH-OEJ, a Boeing 747-400ER delivered to the carrier in 2003. Profits from these flights will go to two aviation museums in Australia, HARS Aviation Museum near Wollongong and Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach, the airline said last week.
The last Qantas Boeing 747 will leave Sydney on July 22 for storage, putting an end to an almost 50 year-long history. Qantas received its first 747-200 in 1971.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
