British Airways abruptly retired its fleet of Boeing 747-400 aircraft over the summer, blaming COVID-19. But the newly-installed CEO now touts the decision as a huge boost to British Airways’ sustainability efforts.
British Airways Defends 747 Retirement
Speaking at the UK Royal Aeronautical Society’s Climate Change Conference, newly-installed CEO Sean Doyle defended the carrier’s decision to retire its fleet of 32 747s:
“That’s 32 older aircraft leaving British Airways, being replaced by modern 787 and A350 variants, and that’s an advancement of our sustainability commitment over the Covid crisis that we’re excited about.”
The new aircraft will serve as “a huge enabler of more efficient operations in terms of CO2 per kilometer travelled” Doyle explained.
Doyle reiterated the aspirations of British Airways to be a “carbon net zero by 2050” and added that there is no “silver bullet” and achieving that goal will require “many dimensions” of action.
More longterm solution including hybrid, battery, and hydrogen are not near-term solutions but likely will not come online until at 2040 at the earliest.
I Still Miss The Boeing 747…
Steeped in nostalgia and curvaceous beauty, the Queen of the Skies remains my favorite aircraft. The 747 has been a sad casualty of the pandemic. Several airlines have retired their 747-400s this year, but none had a fleet depth like British Airways…32 airliners.
While the next-generation of longhaul aircraft, including the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, are beautiful in their own respect, the upper deck and beautiful downstairs forward cabin in the Queen’s nose were something very special.
CONCLUSION
It’s understandable that British Airways would want to put a positive spin on its 747 retirement. But it must also be mentioned BA recently retrofitted these aircraft and had no short-term plans to retire them prior to the pandemic. It was not environmental altruism but the sad reality of reduced demand that led to the early exit of the 747.
As British Airways defends its 747 retirement, are you happy to see the aircraft go?
> Read More: Farewell Photo Tour: British Airways 747-400
image: British Airways
I, too, am sad to see the curtains close on the 747. I’m grateful that I had many opportunities over the years to ride in all cabin classes – on Pan Am, United, Lufthansa, JAL, Thai Airways, KLM, and Air France.
So sad that it is unlikely that I’ll ever fly aboard a 747 from now on. There’s still Lufthansa for me but that is not a certainty. It’s been a few years since I’ve been in a 747. I’ve been on a few variants, like the 747SP, 747-200SUD, 747-300, etc.
You are incorrect in stating BA had no plans to retire the 747 before the pandemic. In fact they were all planned to be retired by 2024.
I meant no short-term plans, but I will make that clear in my post.
When I first started working for Ansett Australia as a young guy, straight out of high school, I used my airline benefits to do a lot of travelling. And I was lucky that virtually every airline flying international routes out of SYD was a Boeing 747. I flew with QF, BA, CX, UA, TG, SQ, JL, NH, and CA. And I was lucky enough to fly on VA and KLM when they flew to Australia; Air New Zealand whwn their call sign was still TE and Air Pacific when they flew Boeing 747-200 services from SYD to NAD before they switched to Boeing 767-300s. In fact, on my very first flight out of Australia as an airline employee, I was meant to be flying on a Continental DC10, but CO switched to a Boeing 747-200 for that day only. And like most Australians my age, my first flight ever as a child was on board a Qantas 747 to from SUD-LHR. So I grew to love the Queen of the Skies and flying out of SYD on vacation always meant a Boeing 747 flight to somewhere. It really upsets me to accept that I’ll probably never get to fly the B747 again. But then, I’ve yet to fly on board an Airbus A350 or a 787 Dreamliner, so maybe in time, I’ll find a new jetliner to associate air travel out of Australia with. As for British Airways retiring their fleet of Boeing 747’s, it won’t be that huge a loss because it was my least favourite airline to fly with, due to their horrible J class, with backward facing seats, 5 across seating and seats that faced each other, so that I was forced to stare at another passenger opposite and needed to use the divider every time…