Tag Archives: Boeing 747 jetliner

End of the jumbo: British Airways retires 747 early due to coronavirus crisis

By Sarah Young, Maria Ponnezhath and Tim Hepher

(Reuters) – British Airways, the world’s largest operator of Boeing 747’s, will retire its entire jumbo jet fleet with immediate effect after the COVID-19 pandemic sent air travel into free fall.

For over 50 years, Boeing’s “Queen of the Skies” has been the world’s most easily recognized jetliner with its humped fuselage and four engines. But its days were already numbered before the pandemic struck earlier this year.

British Airways (BA) had been planning to retire the aircraft in 2024, but with passenger numbers decimated this year, and experts forecasting it will be years before they recover, the airline said it was unlikely its 747’s would operate commercially again.

“It is with great sadness that we can confirm we are proposing to retire our entire 747 fleet with immediate effect,” BA said in a statement on Thursday.

The 747 democratized global air travel in the 1970’s, but fell behind modern twin-engine aircraft and now trails newer planes in fuel efficiency, making it expensive to run.

The move by BA comes after Australia’s Qantas Airways said in June it would retire its remaining 747 fleet immediately, six months ahead of schedule.

BA’s predecessor airline BOAC first introduced the 747 on the London-New York route in 1971 after a one-year delay caused by a dispute with pilots over the terms for flying the new jet.

Hugh Dibley, a former BOAC captain and racing driver who joined the airline in 1958, said the 747’s introduction marked a new era, but was beset with teething problems with its engines.

Landing and taxiing also took some getting used to, from a cockpit positioned almost 30 feet above the ground – or more when angling the nose higher just before touching the runway.

“It was a delight to fly as it was so stable. The initial issue was its height from the ground. It was like landing a block of flats from the 2nd floor,” Dibley told Reuters.

BA’s jumbos are the 747-400 model, the most-sold version of the jet which was introduced in 1989. After BA, only a handful of airlines including Rossiya Airlines and Air China continue to operate them, according to Cirium data.

A newer version, the 747-8, was designed to refresh the brand and counter Airbus’s A380, but has mainly prospered as a freighter and Boeing is soon expected to follow Airbus in announcing a halt to production of such four-engine behemoths.

The end of the runway for BA’s jumbo fleet comes as the company, owned by IAG, faces a battle for survival because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Just as its introduction at BA was marred by labor uncertainty, its retirement almost five decades later comes as BA plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs, or 28% of its workforce, to prepare for a slump in air travel.

U.S.-based Boeing and its suppliers signaled the end of the plane when they set the final number of parts it would need for the 747 jumbo jet program at least a year ago.

(Reporting by Sarah Young in London, Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru, Tim Hepher in Paris, Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Potter)

Branson’s virgin orbit completes key rocket test

FILE PHOTO: Sir Richard Branson attends the "Venezuela Aid Live" concert near the Tienditas cross-border bridge between Colombia and Venezuela, in Cucuta, Colombia, February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit on Wednesday released a rocket from the wing of a modified Boeing 747 jetliner in mid-air in a key test of its high-altitude launch system for satellites, the company said.

In the penultimate mission before Virgin Orbit offers commercial satellite launch services, likely before year-end, the 70-foot (21.34 m) LauncherOne rocket cleanly separated from the jetliner.

The rocket, loaded with water and antifreeze to simulate the weight of fuel, was set to crash as planned into the Mojave Desert as the jetliner, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, continued on its flight path.

Virgin Orbit, Firefly and U.S.-New Zealand company Rocket Lab are among companies designing smaller or non-traditional systems to inject smaller satellites into orbit and meet growing demand.

Competition is fierce. Virgin Orbit has fallen slightly behind Rocket Lab, which has already completed six orbital launches, though Virgin Orbit says its rocket can haul about twice the weight.

Branson may also be losing a competitor in Stratolaunch, which had designed a larger aircraft-and-rocket combo system but is shutting operations, Reuters reported in May.

Virgin Orbit also has a significant potential customer. Branson’s Virgin Group has invested in OneWeb’s satellite constellation project which aims to have global broadband coverage in 2021 from about 650 satellites.

Virgin Orbit’s subsidiary VOX Space LLC is selling launches using the same mid-air launch system to the U.S. military, with a first mission slated for early next year.

Virgin Orbit said last month it plans to bring its satellite launch system to Japan in partnership with airline operator ANA Holdings Inc, which will provide maintenance and possibly aircraft.

That launch location will join other sites including the United States, Guam and the United Kingdom, which Virgin Orbit says will provide satellite makers and governments more flexibility.

High-altitude launches, Branson argues, allow satellites to be placed in their intended orbit more efficiently while avoiding some cancellations due to inclement weather on the ground.

Branson’s separate space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, on Tuesday, announced plans for a stock market listing by the end of the year, giving it much-needed funds to take on a rival suborbital tourism service being developed by billionaire Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Alistair Bell)