Qantas 747's - another one down - one to go

QANTAS B747-438 VH-OEJ (CN32914) 

If you never got to fly the Qantas Boeing 747, then you have missed your chance for good. Yesterday Qantas sent one of its last two Boeing 747 jumbo jets on their final flight to Mojave Dessert via Los Angeles, making an early retirement for the iconic jumbo jet. VH-OEE left Sydney around 10.25am to a water canon salute before a long lonely journey across the Pacific Ocean to Southern California's Mojave Desert, where they'll join three other Qantas Boeing 747 and hundreds of other aircraft deemed surplus to their owners. One of those red-tailed Boeing 747s sitting idle at the famous 'boneyard' has already lost her Qantas branding and the Flying Kangaroo logo, and is now listed for parts and scrap. While there's speculation that her siblings will share the same fate, it is understood that Qantas has for some months been in discussions with General Electric about the company buying at least one Boeing 747 to use as a testbed for its GE Aviation jet engines; a similar deal was previously done with Rolls-Royce. Not all jets that fly into the arid Californian desert never fly out again – many are being stored in the dry environment of Southern California Logistics Airport as airlines wait out the coronavirus pandemic, and are expected to return to the skies as demand for air travel picks up. But the writing was on the wall for the Qantas Boeing 747s long before Covid-19 arrived. Once the backbone of Qantas' international network, carrying travellers to London, Frankfurt, the USA and the key Asian routes of Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok, the Boeing 747 – which made its debut with Qantas in 1971, sporting a then-chic first class lounge in its upstairs 'hump' – was overtaken by the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787.

The very last Jumbo OEJ is ear marked to leave Sydney early July after a full on fan fair.

As I write this VH-OEE is still on the ground in LA but will soon leave for Mojave.

Below are the last six Qantas 747's and their departure dates

QANTAS B747-438 VH-OEF (CN 32910)

Registration   C/N          Joined             Departure          Destination

VH-OEF         32910       31/10/2002     13/02/2020      SAN BERNADINO

VH-OEG         32911       21/12/2002      05/04/2020           MOJAVE

VH-OEH        32912       16/01/2003      19/05/2020            MOJAVE

VH-OEI         32913       26/06/2003      03/06/2020            MOJAVE   

VH-OEE        32909       06/12/2002      16/06/2020            MOJAVE

VH-OEJ         32914       31/07/2003     ON THE GROUND IN SYDNEY       

QANTAS B747-438 VH-OEE (CN32909)

QANTAS B747-438 VH-OEH (CN 32912)