Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines took 93 Boeing 747s, the third-highest of any carrier, and retired the type in 2012.
Singapore Airlines took 93 Boeing 747s — the third-highest total of any airline, after Japan Airlines and British Airways.
The customer code
Singapore’s aircraft are 747-412s. The 12 is Boeing’s customer code for Singapore Airlines, in the same way 36 identifies British Airways and 30 Lufthansa.
Boeing assigned every customer a two-character code that became part of the model number of each aircraft it bought — and those codes outlive the relationship. An aircraft sold on keeps its original customer’s designation for life, which is why second-hand 747s carry designations that have nothing to do with who flies them.
The seat map on this site covers a 747-412 across both decks.
Megatop
Singapore marketed its 747-400s as Megatop, a reference to the stretched upper deck, and its freighters as Megatop Freighter. The branding stuck well enough that enthusiasts still use it.
The retirement
Singapore retired its passenger 747s in 2012, replacing them with 777s and, later, A380s — one of the few carriers that genuinely went from the 747 to the A380 rather than to twins.
Its 747 history includes Singapore Airlines 006 at Taipei in 2000, the airline’s first fatal accident.
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Every major Boeing 747 operator — the launch customer, the biggest fleets ever flown, who still flies the 747 in 2026, and when the rest said goodbye.
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.
Japan Airlines
The largest 747 operator in history at 108 aircraft, and the airline Boeing built three special high-density variants for.
British Airways
94 Boeing 747s, the largest 747-400 fleet in the world, and a retirement brought forward four years by COVID-19.
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.