Japan Airlines
JAL took 108 Boeing 747s, more than any other airline, including variants built specifically for Japanese domestic routes. It retired the type in 2011.
Japan Airlines operated more 747s than any airline in history.
The fleet
108 delivered — the highest total of any customer. Some accounts give 112, which counts second-hand aircraft acquired later; 108 is the delivery figure and the one used across this site.
The 747-400 was the largest component at 44 aircraft: 34 standard, 2 freighters and 8 747-400Ds.
Boeing built variants for them
This is what makes JAL unusual. It was not simply a large customer — it was a customer Boeing designed aircraft for.
JAL was launch customer for the 747SR, a short-range, high-density 747 with reduced fuel capacity and reinforced structure, built because Japanese trunk routes were short, extremely busy and flown many times a day. Cycles, not hours, were the constraint.
That idea ran through three generations:
| Variant | For |
|---|---|
| 747-100SR | 1973 onward; up to 550 seats |
| 747-300SR | 600-plus seats |
| 747-400D | Up to 660; winglets deleted |
The -400D’s missing winglets are the clearest illustration: on a one-hour sector they never repay the weight they add, so Boeing left them off.
JAL configured some aircraft for as many as 624 passengers.
The stretched upper deck started here
Two JAL 747-100B/SR aircraft were the first delivered with the stretched upper deck — the modification that became standard on the 747-300 and every 747 afterwards.
The most recognisable change in the aircraft’s history began as a way of fitting more people onto Japanese domestic flights.
The end
JAL retired its last 747-400s in 2011.
The fleet’s history also includes Japan Air Lines 123 in 1985 — a 747SR, and the deadliest accident involving a single aircraft in history.
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Pan American World Airways
The airline that ordered the 747 into existence, flew the first service in 1970, took 65 aircraft, and was gone by 1991.
British Airways
94 Boeing 747s, the largest 747-400 fleet in the world, and a retirement brought forward four years by COVID-19.
Singapore Airlines
93 Boeing 747s, the Megatop 747-400s, and a retirement in 2012 in favour of the 777 and A380.
Lufthansa
81 Boeing 747s, the launch customer for the 747-8 Intercontinental, and the last major airline still flying the type.
Korean Air
79 Boeing 747s, the last passenger 747-8 ever delivered, and a safety transformation that followed two 747 accidents.