Boeing’s 737 MAX is back. The aircraft that was grounded worldwide for 21 months returned to service in late 2020, and the order backlog today exceeds 4,500 units. Yet Airbus’s A320 family maintains a commanding lead with over 7,000 aircraft on backorder. The numerical advantage understates Airbus’s position. They’re delivering faster, facing fewer production challenges, … Read more
The last scheduled passenger Boeing 747 flight took off on December 4, 2023, from London Heathrow. British Airways flight BA112, registration G-CIVF, departed for New York JFK at 11:15 AM, carrying 294 passengers. The aircraft landed in New York eight hours and ten minutes later. That final flight marked the symbolic end of the 747’s … Read more
On January 30, 2009, a Boeing 747-400 took off from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport carrying something unprecedented: a blend of conventional jet fuel and algae-based biofuel. Japan Airlines Flight 109, registration JA8076, flew to Haneda on a route it had flown thousands of times before. But this flight mattered far more than routine operations suggested. That … Read more
When Juan Trippe, the visionary founder of Pan Am, placed the first order for the Boeing 747 on April 13, 1966, he changed aviation forever. The aircraft would be called a “jumbo jet,” a term that didn’t exist before. Pan Am wanted an aircraft to carry twice as many passengers as anything then flying. Boeing’s … Read more