Qantas retires its last Boeing 747

25 July 2020 © David Eyre

After almost 50 years of reliable Boeing 747 services, Qantas has retired their final ‘Queen of the Skies’, Boeing 747-438ER VH-OEJ ‘Wunala’.

Qantas retired the 747 earlier than originally planned due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The type was originally going to retire at the end of 2020.

Farewell flights

VH-OEJ made a three farewell pleasure flights, but unfortunately, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin missed out.

Economy fares sold for $400 and a small number of Business Class tickets were available for $747 with additional extras included. Proceeds from the ticket sales were donated to the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach, Queensland and the HARS Aviation Museum at Shellharbour Regional Airport in New South Wales, both of which have Boeing 747s on display.

Each of the three flights used the QF747 flight number. The first farewell flight on 13 July 2020 departed Sydney and flew over NSW, before returning to Sydney. The second on 15 July 2020, departed Brisbane, flying over the city and Gold Coast before returning to Brisbane. The third, on 17 July 2020, flew from Canberra.

Final Qantas 747 departure from Australia

Qantas sold its last six 747s to General Electric, which bought the aircraft for their GE engines, which will be used on Boeing 767s. The airframes will be scrapped.

The final Qantas 747 departure occurred on 22 July 2020, with VH-OEJ taking off from Sydney as QF7474 at 3:28pm with a water cannon salute, with the song I Still Call Australia Home playing.

Captain Sharelle Quinn flew the first leg, with VH-OEJ flying over Sydney’s city centre, harbour and beaches, then to the HARS Museum at Shellharbour, where VH-OEJ dipped her wings as a salute to the first 747-400 VH-OJA, which is preserved there.

As a surprise which later went viral on the internet, VH-OEJ flew a flight path which drew a 275-kilometre x 250-kilometre Qantas Kangaroo in the sky.

VH-OEJ then climbed to cruise altitude and flew direct to Los Angeles, landing at 1:23pm after a flight of 15 hours’.

A few days later on 25 July 2020, VH-OEJ departed Los Angeles on a short flight to Mojave, its final resting place.

Interesting facts about Qantas Boeing 747s

• Qantas ordered four 747-100 in October 1967, but changed the order to the 747-200B in June 1969.
• The first Qantas 747-238 was VH-EBA, which first flew on 8 July 1971 and was named ‘City of Canberra’, then delivered to Qantas on 13-16 August 1971.
• VH-EBA made the first visit to Perth by a Boeing 747, on 3 September 1971. The aircraft carried a spare fifth engine under the left wing. It was on a route-proving flight from Sydney via Perth to Singapore, and remained on the ground for a few hours. About 8,000 people turned up to see this aircraft and the public was allowed a close-up look on the tarmac, before it departed to Singapore.
• The first ever Qantas 747 revenue flight was QF727 on 17 September 1971 from Sydney via Perth to Singapore, carrying 55 first class and 239 economy passengers.
• In 49 years of service, the Qantas Boeing 747 fleet of aircraft has flown over 3.6 billion kilometres, the equivalent of 4,700 return trips to the moon or 90,000 times around the world.
• Qantas operated a total number of 65 747 aircraft, including most 747 versions: 747-100, 747-200, 747-SP, 747-300, 747-400 and the 747-400ER.
• In 1979, Qantas became the first airline to operate an all Boeing 747 fleet. This lasted until 1985, when the Boeing 767 joined the fleet.
• The 747-SP was the first 747 model that allowed non-stop operations across the Pacific in 1984, direct from Australia to the west coast of the US.
• The 747-400, which Qantas operated from 1989, opened up the US west coast cities non-stop, and one-stop to European capitals.
• Qantas asked Boeing to design the Boeing 747-400ER, to enable it to comfortably fly new routes such as Melbourne – Los Angeles or Brisbane – Dallas. The 747-400ER differed from the 747-400 by having the option of one or two extra 12,300-litre fuel tanks in the forward cargo hold, a strengthened fuselage, landing gear, wing and new, larger tires.Qantas was the only airline to order the 747-400ER, ordering six aircraft. With an increased takeoff weight of 412,770 kilograms, it could carry an extra 6,800 kilograms of weight and fly an extra 800 kilometres.
• The 747 also broke records, including in 1989 when Qantas crew flew a world first non-stop commercial flight from London to Sydney in 20 hours and nine minutes in a 747-400. That 30-year record was only broken in 2019 when Qantas operated a 787 Dreamliner London-Sydney direct in 19 hours and 19 minutes.
• The Qantas 747-200, -300 and -400 models had a fifth engine pod capability that could carry an additional engine on commercial flights, a capability that was used extensively in early days of the 747-200 when engine reliability required engines to be shipped to all parts of the world. Improved engine reliability of the 747-400 and 747-400ER made this capability redundant.