B747forever From United States of America, joined May 2007, 16575 posts, RR: 11 Posted (5 months 1 day ago) and read 17032 times:
Sadly it seems that the 747-400s days are numbered with major operators planning to retire the type or already has retired it. However threre are still quite a few operators flying the 744. Here are some that I believe use the 744 on regular scheduled flights
KL
AF
BA
LH
VS
UA
DL
QF
TG
KE
CX
NH
CA
CI
LY
SV
UN
It would be great if we all could help out to fill this list with how many 744s each carrier has and when they plan to retire the type. This will give us 747-400 aficionados a good and complete list of where we can hop on a 744, and for how much longer.
KarelXWB From Netherlands, joined Jul 2012, 1816 posts, RR: 6 Reply 1, posted (5 months 1 day ago) and read 16980 times:
The KL has 26 744 aircraft in their fleet: 4x cargo, 17x combi and 5x full pax. The full pax models will be replaced by 77W aircraft while the combi's will be replaced by 787's and A350s'. However, it will take until 2020 at least before all 744 aircraft are gone.
CXB77L From Australia, joined Feb 2009, 2195 posts, RR: 4 Reply 2, posted (5 months 1 day ago) and read 16957 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW CHAT OPERATOR
As far as I know, CX will retire their last 744 in 2016. Based on the CX Interim Results presentation for this year, they currently have 21 pax 744s, 4 of which are on operating leases, and the last of which will expire in 2016. I have heard that CX are accelerating plans for 744 retirement, but even assuming they retire all their owned pax 744s before 2016, it appears that they'll still be operating the leased aircraft until then.
columba From Germany, joined Dec 2004, 6801 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (5 months 1 day ago) and read 16862 times:
Lufthansa is cuurently replacing its older 747-400 with A380s and 747-8Is. The newer 747-400s are planned to stay for a few years flying side by side with its newer siblings the 747-8I- With Lufthansa you have a chance to fly on the 747 for at least 20 more years
It will forever be a McDonnell Douglas MD 80 , Boeing MD 80 sounds so wrong
KarelXWB From Netherlands, joined Jul 2012, 1816 posts, RR: 6 Reply 5, posted (5 months 23 hours ago) and read 16767 times:
Qantas has postponed some of the A380 deliveries and decided to refurbish 9 of the 18 744 aircraft, so they will stay in the fleet for a little bit longer. The last 747 aircraft should leave the fleet by 2021.
Thomas_Jaeger From Switzerland, joined Apr 2002, 2266 posts, RR: 31 Reply 8, posted (5 months 23 hours ago) and read 16719 times:
Air India, Air New Zealand, Air Pacific, Air Pullmantur, Asiana Airlines, Corsair International, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Lion Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Philippine Airlines and Royal Air Maroc all also still operate them on scheduled services.
Swiss aviation news junkie living all over the place
KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020
AF
BA
LH
VS
UA
DL
QF 6x 744ER / 12x 744 - retirement ~ 2021
TG
KE
CX
NH
CA
CI
LY
SV
UN
FJ 2x 744 - retirement ~ 2013
Quoting Mortyman (Reply 7): Air New Zealand apparently still has 2 Boeing 747 400's in service. The type is said to be retired from their fleet in 2015.
Do those two operate on scheduled flights or are they just used as back up planes?
zkojq From New Zealand, joined Sep 2011, 784 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (5 months 23 hours ago) and read 16522 times:
Quoting B747forever (Reply 10): Do those two operate on scheduled flights or are they just used as back up planes?
They are nearly always scheduled to operate NZ7/NZ8 to and from San Francisco as well as several trans-Tasman flights. I think they also get send up to Vancouver every once in a while. Both were bought from the lessors by Air New Zealand a few years back.
B747forever From United States of America, joined May 2007, 16575 posts, RR: 11 Reply 11, posted (5 months 23 hours ago) and read 16500 times:
Quoting zkojq (Reply 12):
They are nearly always scheduled to operate NZ7/NZ8 to and from San Francisco as well as several trans-Tasman flights. I think they also get send up to Vancouver every once in a while. Both were bought from the lessors by Air New Zealand a few years back.
Good, then they should be included in the list.
KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020
AF
BA
LH
VS
UA
DL
QF 6x 744ER / 12x 744 - retirement ~ 2021
TG
KE
CX
NH
CA
CI
LY
SV
UN
FJ 2x 744 - retirement ~ 2013
NZ 2x 744 - retirement ~ 2015
PR 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2017
wilco737 From Greenland, joined Jun 2004, 8478 posts, RR: 78 Reply 14, posted (5 months 22 hours ago) and read 16246 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW HEAD MODERATOR
KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020
AF
BA
LH Phasing them out slowly and adding 748. Currently around 23-26 active, rest stored or srapped.
VS
UA
DL
QF 6x 744ER / 12x 744 - retirement ~ 2021
TG
KE
CX
NH
CA 5x 74M/ 4x 744 - retirement, not announced
CI
LY
SV
UN
FJ 2x 744 - retirement ~ 2013
NZ 2x 744 - retirement ~ 2015
PR 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2017
justinlee From China, joined Aug 2012, 306 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (5 months 21 hours ago) and read 16210 times:
Quoting B747forever (Reply 14): Does CA usually operate an a/c until the end of their usable life? Might give us an idea of how long they will keep their 747 fleet flying.
CA usually utilizes their owned planes for quite a long time. But there is a higher possibility that CA will convert 747s to cargo aircraft.
B747forever From United States of America, joined May 2007, 16575 posts, RR: 11 Reply 17, posted (5 months 21 hours ago) and read 16194 times:
Quoting wilco737 (Reply 14): LH Phasing them out slowly and adding 748. Currently around 23-26 active, rest stored or srapped.
Hasnt LH announced any year for their last 744 to be retired?
Quoting kochikaze (Reply 15): NH has 5 747-481D.
JA8957, JA8960, JA8961, JA8965 and JA8966
They will be retired until 2015.
KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020
AF
BA
LH Phasing them out slowly and adding 748. Currently around 23-26 active, rest stored or srapped.
VS
UA
DL
QF 6x 744ER / 12x 744 - retirement ~ 2021
TG
KE
CX
NH 5x 74D - retirement ~ 2015
CA 5x 74M/ 4x 744 - retirement, not announced
CI
LY
SV
UN
FJ 2x 744 - retirement ~ 2013
NZ 2x 744 - retirement ~ 2015
PR 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2017
Quoting justinlee (Reply 16): CA usually utilizes their owned planes for quite a long time. But there is a higher possibility that CA will convert 747s to cargo aircraft.
Oh, I see. Hopefully CA wont convert them to 74Fs.
wilco737 From Greenland, joined Jun 2004, 8478 posts, RR: 78 Reply 18, posted (5 months 21 hours ago) and read 16139 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW HEAD MODERATOR
Quoting B747forever (Reply 17): Hasnt LH announced any year for their last 744 to be retired?
Well, things at LH change rather quickly. I was told when I was at flight school I will never fly the 737... That was in 2001... And they are still around.
So the same for the 742 back then. So I guess we will see the 744 for many more years at LH as we have some rather new ones. The old ones will be retired pretty soon with the replacement 748's.
B747forever From United States of America, joined May 2007, 16575 posts, RR: 11 Reply 19, posted (5 months 21 hours ago) and read 16105 times:
Quoting wilco737 (Reply 18): So I guess we will see the 744 for many more years at LH as we have some rather new ones. The old ones will be retired pretty soon with the replacement 748's.
I guess so. Isnt LH known for using aircraft until they reach the end of their serviceable lives? I know that at the time of retirement some of LH's 744s had the highest hours/cycles recorded on the type. I believe they hold a similar record for the 737s.
Yes, LH uses their airplanes quite long. Good service makes it possbile. The oldest 744 which are retired had over 120,000 hours and were from 1988. So quite old, but still an incredible reliability
DL has 16 744s and has just done a complete cabin refurbishment on them. Despite being some of the oldest 744's (NW took delivery of the first 744) AFAIK there are no plans to retire them.
UA has 24 744's (23 mainline and 1 charter) UA announced some time ago that they intended on replacing them with the A350-900 however with the CO merger there is some talk of acquiring larger aircraft (350-1000, 737--300NG or 747-8i) to replace the 744's. They recently concentrated all of the 744s around SFO in order to improve dispatch reliability. UA finished retrofitting IPTE on the 744 a couple of years ago but is adding worldwide WiFi and streaming video to improve the experience in Y.
trex8 From United States of America, joined Nov 2002, 3970 posts, RR: 14 Reply 22, posted (5 months 20 hours ago) and read 15115 times:
CI has 13 744 in service and 18 744F, 3 744F in storage,and one leased out.
Just announced order for 6 77W (with purchase rights for 4) and lease another 4. Seems to be a 744 replacement program though initially the first ones will replace A343 till A359 delivered. They just spent over 100 million Us$ refurbishing the 744 cabins. First 77W delivery from GECAS 2014 but not sure when first 744 retirements would be., first A359s due 2016.
What they will do with their 744F fleet, the largest, is the 6 billion $ question for B! I don't see a for one for one replacement, they could do with something smaller for regional routes or even for the lower 48 states for transpac with transhipment via ANC etc, plus there is far more competition from newer carriers now. As most of their cargo business is electronics they probably would need the 7478F rather than a 777 F for the volume. With 24 A333s in service or due in next 2 years the A332F would fit well size wise as a smaller complement to the 747 and for commonality (except they would have to change engine suppliers as GE is not on the A332F).
The last 4 pax 744s are operated by CI, they were delivered 04/05. Hoping they stay till end of this decade!
Oh...that's funny. I meant 777-300NG Too much egg nog
Semper Fi
25 tommy525: You forgot EVA. EVA had four 747 combi , sold two but are still flying two of them. And they have a number of all passenger 744. However all are slate
26 KarelXWB: Malaysia Airlines is also missing in the list, they currently operate 8 744 aircraft (6x pax, 2x freighter) and the pax models will be stored in Febru
27 sevenheavy: VS has 13. One, G-VTOP, will be retired in Jan 2013. The 7 remaining leisure configured B744 (G-VROM,GAL,LIP,ROS,ROY,AST,XLG) have all just been refur
28 joshu: National Airlines also has a few 744s around.
29 LAXintl: Why sadly? We are talking about a model that has been around for almost 25-years now, whose economics and market placement is not as compelling compa
30 boeing727: Transaero has large fleet of them...probably will be flying them for some time to come in addition to their B743s.. Boeing727
31 B747forever: Thank you guys, this is great. KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020 AF BA LH Phasing them out slowly and adding 748. Currently around 23-26 active,
32 United1: Not that I know of...you may be thinking of UA which plans on starting to retire them in 2016.
33 DocLightning: LH seems to take very loving care of their aircraft in order to maximize their serviceable life. They have even spun off their aircraft service capab
34 B747forever: When will the last 744 fly for UA?
35 United1: Assuming that delivery of the 359's are on schedule and UA does actually replace the 744s with 359's the last 747 should leave the fleet in 2019.
36 VC10er: Which airline at anytime in history operated the largest fleet? And about how many? PanAm? BA? Just a guess!
37 United1: Of all types of 747s? JL or BA....I would have to go back and count how many but booth would be around 70+ at their peak. UA had 60 at one point befo
38 B747forever: Thanks! BA I guess. KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020 AF BA LH Phasing them out slowly and adding 748. Currently around 23-26 active, rest store
39 jet-lagged: It is nice to see this list and conversation. With SQ having retired their's already, I had it in mind that there were just a handful of years at the
40 rafabullara: There's at least one more 744 flying around! YI-AQQ is operating for IA. Dunno if it's a charter, VIP, but for sure is not a cargo plane!
41 KarelXWB: YI-AQQ is leased from AAR Corporation.
42 7BOEING7: If you're just talking 744's I think it goes BAB, JAL, UAL. However, I think JAL for several years was flying the largest fleet of 747's (all types).
43 jwhite9185: 4x have already gone, plus another 2x pretty soonish. They're already in the process of being replaced by the A333. I can see all the 744's heading o
44 rwy04lga: I've heard nothing. My guess is Japan Airlines...60?
45 sevenheavy: The next two A346 don't go until August and October next year (G-VGOA/ATL) LHR will probably need the capacity for LAX/SFO/MIA/NYC until something si
46 7BOEING7: Airfleets.net lists them with 126 historical, B lists 108 deliveries and there were some -400BCF's they also purchased (I don't know where those came
47 Boeing74741R: All A330s ordered by VS have been delivered and the sub-leased Air China A330s have returned to VS. To be honest I wouldn't use age as a sole definit
48 NWADTWE16: Great thread..regarding JL..i cant believe how quickly they retired their fleet =( DL will def hang on to those for awhile, if anything, as ive stated
49 CX Flyboy: Latest rumour is that the 744 retirement has been postponed a little later. Many of the remaining 744s in the fleet are undergoing business class cab
50 B747forever: Adding CX with 21 744s. KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020 AF BA LH Phasing them out slowly and adding 748. Currently around 23-26 active, rest s
51 american 767: BA still has 50 or so 744s in its fleet, more than any other operator, but the retirement of those is already taking place. I believe that the last o
52 VC10er: The LANDOR livery for BA was designed on a 747 and presented to management on a 747 and Concorde, once approved it was adapted to all types in their
53 EL-AL: El Al is operating 6 passenger B744s and one Cargo B744F. Not only that there is no plan to retire them, but all planes were just installed with new E
54 twincommander: Asiana has a sizeable fleet of Pax, Cargo, and Combi...
56 gauravpai: you have not put AI On the list cheers
57 B747forever: According to planespotters.net they have 52 active 744s. Though I do not know how up to date that number is. Can anyone confirm if they operate all 5
58 KarelXWB: Air India has 5 active 744 aircraft left. Back in 2009 they announced to retire the 747 but they are still flying around. No new retirement date has
59 KarelXWB: The BA website says 57 aircraft but it includes the 3 (stored) + 2 (scrapped) older aircraft. I would say 52 is correct. BA is still evaluating the p
60 B747forever: KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020 AF 7x 744 - retirement ~ 2016 BA 52x 744 - retirement, not announced LH Phasing them out slowly and adding 748
61 qf002: It's worth noting that 9 aircraft will be leaving the fleet over the next two years. QF has refurbished the other 9 aircraft (the ERs and three 1998-
62 Flyingsottsman: Ithink they are still used for regular flights NZ still use them on the AKL/BNE services and I think every now and then one comes into MEL aswell.
63 Flyingsottsman: SQ have retired all their pax 747's but are still using their 74F's saw them at MEL and Singapore this year I think their freighters will be flying f
64 EL-AL: What about Transaero (UN)? They have no less then 19 B744s, and continue to buy second hand from all over the world.
65 Mortyman: Corsair International has 5 still flying Pullmantur air has 4 Martinair has 5
66 twincommander: for asiana... 14, all active. 4 pax, 10 freight. combis arnt listed. http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Asiana%20Airlines-active-b747.htm[Edited 2012-
67 joost: During the last 2 years KL have transformed 2 74Ms to 744s (full-pax): PH-BFH and PH-BFY. So it's 15x 74M, 7x 744. They will get new business class s
68 HOONS90: Korean Air has 15 pax 744s currently in service. Retirement date is not set in stone, but most of their replacement aircraft should arrive by the end
69 KarelXWB: Yes, Korean Air can replace their 744 pax fleet with the 10 A380 and 5 747-8i on order. However, a delivery date for the first 747-8i is not known ye
70 AirlineCritic: So for the ones that have counts above, that is 257 aircraft. I am interested in when the numbers of A380s trump the numbers of 744s in our skies. Ac
71 B747forever: Does anyone know about TG and their plans for the 744? KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020 AF 7x 744 - retirement ~ 2016 BA 52x 744 - retirement, n
72 United1: There were 528 of the -400 built in a passenger (400, 400D, 400M and 400ER) configuration so I think we may be missing a few There have been a few sc
73 LAXintl: Some of you might be interested in this June article. Boeing's 747-400, a Faded Queen of the Skies http://www.businessweek.com/articles...747-400-a-fa
74 VV701: At the IAG Capital Markets Presentation on 9 November 2012 it was stated that it was currently planned to reduce the 52 currently active BA 744s to 45
75 mandala499: GA 2x 744 (previous was retired earlier this year), retirement unknown. (previously 2013 but now postponed). JT 2x 744 irregular use, no retirement da
76 Yakamoz: TG will retire 6 B747-400 in 2012/2013, according to this article: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/art...rcraft-over-next-six-years-359423/ At the mo
77 B747forever: So as an aviation enthusiast I am not allowed to like an airplane because it is "old and obsolete"? I think it is quite an achievement that the 747-4
78 Spacepope: Adding the UN and SV fleet to the matrix, for completeness KL 17x 74M/ 5x 744 - retirement ~ 2020 AF 7x 744 - retirement ~ 2016 BA 52x 744 - ex 2 scra
79 777way: Atlas, Air Atlanta, Orient Thai, Eagle Express, Kuwait Airways, while Biman and Sonair are two current leased operators too.
80 babybus: It does seem there aren't that many 744 out there anymore. I flew two Air France 744s and both of them were well past their prime. The toilets and gal
81 Yakamoz: What is about other Airlines using 744? Air Atlanta Icelandic 9 744 / 4 74F / 1 744 stored in ROW Asiana 2 744 / 10 74F / 2 74M Iraqi Airways 1 744 Pu
82 by738: The BA 744's in particular in the new First cabins are no different internally to some of the other fleet. Infact the First cabin is identical to the
83 SEPilot: Why would they keep the 744's when they are getting rid of A346's? I thought the CASM of the A346 was considerably better than the 744, to say nothin
84 Gr8Circle: I saw the Air New Zealand 744s at SFO twice in the last 4-5 days while I was out there.......seems to be a regular flight...last time I saw it was ju
85 777way: Why not Kwait airways being listed, its more commercial than VIP.
86 travelhound: I think that might be a bit of a myth. I remember Oasis Airlines stating the 744 was still one of the most economical (on a per seat basis) aircraft
87 TWA772LR: UA is waiting for the A350 so I'd put the 747s starting to retire around 2017 and gone before 2022. AF, aren't those almost all the way gone?
88 DocLightning: It's also the only 400+ seat aircraft available that isn't an A380. When you want some serious capacity, the 744 is hard to beat. And it's not as if
89 ZK-NBT: Currently daily 744s. SFO is NZs only long haul 744 route these days, i'm picking it will remain that way with only 2 aircraft in the fleet now. They
90 sevenheavy: It really depends on which routes the aircraft are being deployed on. A B744 should still have better CASM when full of passengers. The A346 doesn't
91 trex8: Per numbers previously quoted on this site by a CX pilot, a 744 burns 11000kg/hr, an A346 8900 and a 77W 8100.
92 sevenheavy: I recently compared two LHR-LAX flight plans. Same day. One B744, one A346. I can't remember the exact figures but I compared trip fuel rather than b
93 TSS: Putting the listed airlines in alphabetical order for ease of search. AF 7x 744 - retirement ~ 2016 AI 5x 744 - retirement, not announced BA 52x 744 -
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