A Fond Farewell

As we say goodbye to 2018, we bid a fond farewell to the Boeing 747 passenger jet, which technology and consumers' preferences have rendered obsolete.

The 747 cargo version will continue.

The newer planes, which include the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, are redrawing the map for global air travel. They can fly just as far as the jumbos, but often are less expensive to operate on a per-seat basis. They allow airlines to offer multiple flights on routes that once justified only a single big aircraft. That helps fill seats and boost profits.

...for many international travelers, the shift is eliminating what has been an almost mandatory stopover in a global airport hub such as New York, London, Dubai or Singapore.

“Since the dawn of air travel, people always wanted to fly direct,” says Ihssane Mounir, Boeing’s chief jetliner salesman. Smaller planes have changed the economics of the industry, he says, and have “pushed big aircraft, to some extent, out of the market.”

The Qantas 747 upper deck (runwaygirlnetwork)

In the 1990's your humble blogger averaged more than one international flight per month over several years, which was not unusual for business people connected to commercial aviation.

Most of the flights took place on the 747. Psychologically, there's a sense of security in knowing that the airplane has four engines when taking long-distance flights over water (even if three engines are out, the 747 can fly on one engine in an emergency; there's obviously less margin for error in twin-engine aircraft).

On a few occasions I got to ride in the upper deck, the symbol of luxurious air travel.

In most respects life is better today. But in business air travel? Not so much.