The last two British Airways Boeing 747s took off for the very last time on Thursday morning from their home base at London Heathrow Airport. The aircraft took off shortly after each other from a drizzly runway. Initially, it was intended that the Boeing 747s would take off synchronously from the parallel runways, but bad weather threw a spanner in the works.
This marks the end of the 747 era at the British airline and its predecessor BOAC after almost fifty years of service. Over the past decades, thousands of employees have worked with the four-engined aircraft. Millions of passengers boarded the dozens of 747’s that BA has operated over the years.
The last two 747s to leave Heathrow were the G-CIVB (built 1994, featuring the Negus livery) and the G-CIVY (built 1998, featuring today’s Chatham Dockyard livery). Shortly after departure, the latter aircraft performed a fly-past over the south runway at Heathrow.
The aircraft made short flights to Cotswold Airport (Kemble) in Gloucestershire and Saint Athan in Wales respectively. The demolition hammer is what follows for the planes, although according to rumors, the 747 that flew to Kemble will be given a place in a museum.
In addition, the airline is asking current and former employees, aviation experts and customers to share their 747 memories on Thursday at 7:47 am and 7:47 pm (UK time) via social media using the hashtag # BA747farewell.
This way, BA does not want to let the early retirement of the 747 fleet pass without ceremony entirely. The airline did not organize special sightseeing flights with the iconic aircraft type, possibly due to COVID.