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| QANTAS B747-438 VH-OJM (CN 25245) |
Qantas announced last year they would be retiring the "Queen of the skies" late 2020 but then extended that retirement to February 2021. Due to the covid 19 virus, which has hit the airline industry very hard, with passenger demand dropping to unprecedented levels and ban travel to and from their nations in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, Qantas has decided to retire the remaining 5 aircraft as of tonight.
Qantas has been an operator of the Boeing 747 since 1971 when it received its first 747-238 (VH-EBA CN 2009) in September that year, and has operated every version of the aircraft except for the 747-8. The airline is also the sole customer of the extended range variant 747-400ER, of which it operated six aircraft until its retirement today. The 747-400ER could fly 500 nm / 925 km farther than the standard -400 model, and it allowed Qantas to operate Melbourne to Los Angeles flights with a fully loaded aircraft, where the conventional 747-400 would have had to operate with restricted weights for such a distance. Qantas retired its last standard Boeing 747-438 in October 2019. VH-OJU (CN 25566) was the aircraft and it was delivered to Qantas on the 24th January 2000 . The 747 has no direct replacement in its fleet in terms of capacity, but that may change with Project Sunrise, when the airline wants to introduce Airbus A350-1000 into its fleet. Most of the 747 routes have been replaced with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.
Qantas' last 747 flight was tonight, QF28 from Santiago de Chile (SCL/SCEL) to Sydney (SYD/YSSY) and was operated Boeing 747-406ER (VH-OEE CN 32909) a 17 year old aircraft.
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| QANTAS B747-438 VH-OEE (CN 32909) |
My family and I had the pleasure of flying on her from Dallas to Brisbane back in December 2013.
This plane was the test plane for the Boeing 747-400ER. However, this was the second Boeing 747-400ER delivered to Qantas. Qantas has operated the iconic Boeing 747 for almost fifty years. The last Qantas 747 flight to London was in 2010 and to San Francisco was in early December 2019. The fleet was sold to an unknown buyer a few days ago and will ferry to Mojave in California in the upcoming weeks.
The remaining 5 that retired today were
747-438ER VH-OEE 32909 06/12/2002 Named Nullarbor
747-438ER VH-OEG 32911 20/12/2002 Named Parkes
747-438ER VH-OEH 32912 09/02/2003 Named Hervey Bay
747-438ER VH-OEI 32913 26/06/2003 Named Ceduna
747-438ER VH-OEJ 32914 30/07/2003 Named Wunala
Below are some of the different liveries Qantas has worn in the past
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QANTAS B747-438ER VH-OEF (CN 32910)
ONE WORLD
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QANTAS B747-438ER VH-OEI (CN 32913)
GO WALLABIES
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QANTAS B747-438ER VH-OEJ (CN 32914)
SOCCER WORLD CUP 2017
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| OEJ WUNULA DREAMING 2011 |
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| EOJ SUPPORTING THE SOCCEROO'S 2015 |
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QANTASB747-438 VH-OJO (CN 25544)
GO QANTAS WALLABIES 2012
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QANTAS B747-438 VH-OJS (CN 25564)
QANTAS SOCCEROO'S 2011
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QANTAS B747-438 VH-OJU (CN 25566)
SUPPORTING THE AUSTRALIAN OLYMPICS 2012
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QANTAS B747-48E VH-OEB (CN 25778)
AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2011
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