The last Boeing 747 is delivered

Boeing delivered the last 747 it will ever build on 31 January 2023. The aircraft, a 747-8 Freighter registered N863GT, went to Atlas Air, which operates it for Apex Logistics. It was the last of four 747-8Fs Atlas ordered in January 2021 — an order placed knowing it would close the line.

The final tally is 1,574 aircraft over a production run of 54 years, all of them assembled at Everett, Washington, in a building that was put up specifically to make them.

How it ended

The commercial case had been narrowing for years. Twin-engined widebodies — the 777 and 787, and the A350 on the other side — could fly the same long routes on two engines instead of four, at lower fuel and maintenance cost. Airlines stopped ordering the passenger 747 well before Boeing stopped building it: the 747-8 Intercontinental attracted only a handful of customers, and Lufthansa was the only airline to order it in quantity.

Freight kept the line alive at the end. The 747-8F’s nose door and main-deck volume still have no direct equivalent, which is why the last aircraft off the line was a freighter rather than an airliner.

What “the end of the 747” actually means

Production ending is not the same as the aircraft disappearing, and the two get conflated.

Passenger 747s have largely gone from Western airlines. United and Delta both retired theirs in 2017. British Airways, KLM, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic accelerated retirements they had already planned during the 2020 downturn. But Lufthansa still operates the largest passenger 747 fleet, a mix of 747-8s and 747-400s, and expects to keep the -8s flying into the 2030s. Korean Air and Air China also still run 747-8s on long-haul routes.

The freighter fleet is in better health. 747-8Fs and converted 747-400Fs continue to carry a substantial share of the world’s outsize air cargo for Atlas Air, UPS, Cargolux and Kalitta, and there is no like-for-like replacement in production.

Specialised 747s continue too. The Dreamlifter fleet still moves 787 assemblies between Boeing’s plants. And two VC-25B presidential aircraft — built on 747-8 airframes among the last produced — are being converted to replace the VC-25As that have served since 1990.

The 747 will be flying long after the factory that built it moved on.