British Airways has announced it will retire all 31 of its iconic Boeing 747 aircraft as a result of the downturn in traffic caused by the coronavirus
pandemic.
A BA spokesperson told the BBC it is “unlikely our
magnificent ‘queen of the skies’ will ever operate commercial services for
British Airways again”. Boeing said last year it would begin ceasing production
of the aircraft.
The airline is the world’s largest operator of the 747 jumbo
jet, with the planes making up about 10 per cent of its total fleet. BA had
planned on retiring the aircraft starting in 2024 but has accelerated the move
after it said it expects passenger demand to take several years to recover.
BA said it will instead operate flights on more modern and
fuel-efficient aircraft such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 Dreamliners as
part of its goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
According to Rob Morris, global head of consultancy at Ascend by Cirium, as of 14 July there were only 30 passenger 747s in service and 132 in storage globally. The aircraft is still popular for cargo operations, with 308 currently in service and 24 in storage with 15 on order.
The news comes as BA continues consultations with its staff unions over a potential 12,000 redundancies. The airline is attempting to drastically
cut costs to deal with a downturn in passenger revenue since the start of the
pandemic. It announced recently that it would resume some of its flights after the UK lifted quarantine requirements for people arriving from 59 countries.