Qantas Retires 747 With Humor

Leave it to Qantas to have a sense of humor. The last flight of a Boeing 747 in the Australian carrier’s livery departed Sydney and flew a flight path creating a massive kangaroo. The 15-hour flight was scheduled to land in Los Angeles. The 747, the last of two remaining in Qantas’ fleet, will be flown to Victorville and parked in the sand, in what has become an ever-growing boneyard of retired and outdated airliners. 

Qantas opened 2020 with just six 747s still in operation and had already announced that the four-engine “Queen of the Skies” would be phased out in favor of the Boeing 787. But the dramatic drop in travel demand due to COVID-19 pushed that timeline, as it did for many other airlines. Qantas has stopped flying its Airbus A380s for at least the next three years and has announced plans to cut 20 percent of its workforce. Qantas has been using the 747 since 1971.