Today Qantas will retire it last 747 after having the aircraft in service for just under 49 years. Over the past 49 years the 747 has been an icon in Australian aviation, it has been a true icon and been able to bring the Australia closer to the world

Many thanks for those who sent me images. Below is some of the history behind Qantas and the 747.

Overall Qantas purchased 60 747’s of which 57 were new direct from Boeing and 3 bought second hand. Another 5 were operated via leases. Qantas has operated most variants of the 747 including 747 Combi, 747-100, 747-200, 747SP, 747-300, 747-400 and 747-400ER

Qantas first ordered the 747 in 1967 a year prior to rollout of the first 747. The order was for 4 aircraft valued at $132 million. At the time it was envisioned to be an aircraft for short term as speed was envisioned with Qantas looking at both the Boeing 2707 and the concorde. At the time it was Qantas biggest order.

First delivery into SYD arrived on 16 August 1971 from PAE via SFO and HNL. The aircraft was configured with 55 first class and 239 economy seats. The upper deck was exclusively for first class fitted out with the Captain Cook lounge. Business class was introduced in 1979.



https://www.executivetraveller.com/qant ... -of-flying

First 747 visit to PER in 1971





https://twitter.com/speedbird020/status ... 36870?s=20

747 schedule in Q4 1972

Q4 72

SYD-NAN-HNL-SFO – 4 weekly 742
SYD-SIN-BKK-BAH-FCO-LHR – weekly 742
SYD-SIN-KUL-BAH-AMS-LHR – weekly 742
SYD-SIN-KUL-BAH-FCO-LHR – weekly 742
SYD-SIN-KUL-BAH-ATH-LHR – weekly 742

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... ght=qantas

March 1974 Schedule

MEL-SYD-SIN-KUL-BAH-FCO-LHR (2 weekly 747)
MEL-SYD-SIN-BAH-ATH-AMS-LHR (1 weekly 747)
MEL-SYD-SIN-BAH-FCO-LHR (1 weekly 747)
SYD-NAN-HNL-SFO (1 weekly 747)
SYD-CHC (up to 4 weekly 747)

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... ght=qantas

Qantas became the only 747 only airline from March 1978 when the last 707 was retired till July 1985 when Qantas introduced the first of 767-200’s into their fleet

In 1981 Qantas took delivery of 2 747SP's. Initial routes included SYD-WLG due to WLG's short runway. It also allowed for the first non stop flights across the Pacific from SYD to LAX

In 1984 Qantas took delivery of the first of 6 747-300's

1985/86 schedule

MEL-SYD-BKK-ATH-FCO (2 weekly 747)
MEL-SYD-SIN-BAH-LHR (daily 747)
SYD-MEL-SIN-BKK-BKK-FCO-BEG (weekly 747)
SYD-MEL-SIN-BOM-FRA-AMS (weekly 747)
SYD-MEL-SIN-BOM-FRA-MAN (2 weekly 747)
SYD-PER-HRE (weekly 747)
SYD-BNE-CNS-HNL-YVR (2 weekly 747SP)
MEL-NAN-HNL-LAX (3 weekly 747)
MEL-SYD-HNL-SFO (daily 747)
MEL-SYD-PPT-LAX (3 weekly 747 combi)
SYD-LAX (3 weekly 747SP)
MEL-SYD-PEK (weekly 747SP)
MEL-SYD-DPS (weekly 747)
MEL-SYD-HKG (3 weekly 747)
PER-SIN (4 weekly 747)
SYD-HKG (weekly 747 combi)
SYD-MNL (weekly 747SP)
SYD-NRT (3 weekly 747/combi)
SYD-BNE-HKG (weekly 747)
SYD-BNE-NRT (weekly 747)
SYD-MEL-HKG (2 weekly 747)
SYD-MEL-DPS-HLP (2 weekly 747)
TSV-DRW-SIN (weekly 747)
MEL-SYD-NOU (weekly 747)
SYD-AKL (daily 747)
SYD-CHC (3 weekly 747)
TSV-AKL (weekly 747)

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... ght=qantas

In 1989 Qantas took delivery of its first 747-400. The 747-400 was a game changer as it would be the first aircraft that allowed both Qantas and British Airways to fly from Australia to the UK with only one stop. The first 747-400 was delivered via LHR which then flew nonstop to SYD in 20 hours, 9 minutes and 5 seconds. All 747-400's wore the name Longreach not only for the outback country town where Qantas was born but for the aircraft's long range

OJU on departure from SYD (thanks AN767 for the image)



During 2002-2003 Qantas took delivery of 6 747-400/ER's. They were the only airline to take the passenger version which enable to take a better payload on routes such as LAX-MEL

The first 747-400 (VH-OJA) was retired on 8 March 2015 and is on display at HARS at Illawarra Airport. The last non ER 747 was VH-OJU which last flight was on 13 October 2019 as QF99 SYD-LAX. The last commercial flight operated by the 747 for Qantas was on the 28 March 2020 operating SCL-SYD. Three farewell flights have been operated in the past week from SYD, BNE and CBR

Over the years Qantas 747's have been used for rescued missions. In 1974 a Qantas 747 carried 674 passengers plus 23 crew out of DRW after Cyclone Tracey hit Darwin. Other notable rescue missions include bombings in Cairo, flying supplies and bring home tourists from the Maldives and Sri Lanka after the Boxing Day Tsunami and the rescue missions to WUH earlier this year.
Over the nearly 49 years Qantas 747's have accumulated 3.6 billion kilometres which is equivalent to 4700 return trips to the moon or 90,000 round the world trips. The 747 has seen Qantas change its livery 4 times and seen several special liveries including celebrating various sporting events, Formula One racing, plus a 747-300 (EBU) painted in Nalanji Dreaming colours and and 747-400's OJB and OEJ in probably one of the best liveries that a 747 has ever seen, Wunula Dreaming





CBR farewell flight







https://twitter.com/aussiepomm/status/1 ... 79777?s=20



https://twitter.com/aussiepomm/status/1 ... 78017?s=20



https://twitter.com/aussiepomm/status/1 ... 26624?s=20



https://twitter.com/aussiepomm/status/1 ... 06912?s=20

OEJ in the hangar yesterday



https://twitter.com/KarlenePetitt/statu ... 79009?s=20

Planned departure from SYD



https://twitter.com/Keg767/status/12855 ... 58593?s=20

Provisional flight plan



https://twitter.com/Keg767/status/12857 ... 63808?s=20

In the hangar prior to departure





https://twitter.com/AusBT/status/128576 ... 78528?s=20

Im just adding some more things into opening post, should be about 30 minutes. Meanwhile OEJ should be on her way shortly

I regret not trying to snag a ride of a QF (and BA for that matter) 747. Those were the 2 airlines that had a deep connection and affiliation to the bird, arguably just as much as UA and NW, and only surpassed by PA.

Long live the Queen.

OEJ has just pushed back from hangar, currently at terminal for loading of freight



https://twitter.com/AusBT/status/128578 ... 05024?s=20

Looks like a very substantial amount of people are at various spotting areas at SYD, in addition to the surrounding areas. Not to be a drag but let’s all just try to remember that COVID-19 is not over....seems that in the photos that I have seen that social distancing is very minimal. This rule applies also for us LA spotters...don’t all crowd imperial hill on departure (from LAX) please. Anyways, farewell to the Qantas Queen, the skies will definitely be sadder without ‘Longreach’ in the sky...

Very nice tribute and very nice pictures ! Hope to see it at LAX before it goes to VCV.

The777Man

The777Man wrote:

Very nice tribute and very nice pictures ! Hope to see it at LAX before it goes to VCV.

The777Man

She will be retiring to MHV, not VCV. Departure out of LAX will be Friday at 11AM.

Live stream from helicopter: https://www.facebook.com/7NEWSsydney/vi ... 9184421936

Live stream from Sheps Mound: https://www.news.com.au/world/watch-liv ... d878cd1b5b

VH-OEJ has pushed back

End of an era.

Not only was the 747 groundbreaking, it was also economically successful and good looking. Remarkable project.

OEJ has had a water cannon salute while taxiing out





https://twitter.com/AeronewsGlobal/stat ... 34945?s=20

Just watched the live stream, such a sad day for aviation.

My last memory of a QF 747 was VH-OJU taking me both to and from my trip to Africa in 2018. The 747 will forever be my favourite aircraft to fly on.

My first flight out of the country was on one.of the 744ERs back in August 2005, LAX-SYD. Wish I knew the tail number.

My first B747 flight was with my family flying from London to Melbourne 4th May 1999.

Just listening to Sydney Departures now and it sounds like QF7474 is on it's way to complete some 'artwork'. Will be interesting to see what appears on FlightRadar.

Qantas737 wrote:

Just listening to Sydney Departures now and it sounds like QF7474 is on it's way to complete some 'artwork'. Will be interesting to see what appears on FlightRadar.

I heard they were going to do a basic roo shape that would be visible on FR24

VCVSpotter wrote:

The777Man wrote:

Very nice tribute and very nice pictures ! Hope to see it at LAX before it goes to VCV.

The777Man

She will be retiring to MHV, not VCV. Departure out of LAX will be Friday at 11AM.

Ah MHV. She’ll be broken up right away. Not a bad spot to watch her touch down, socially isolsted for sure.

I remember seeing QF 747s at FCO when I was young. They looked so exotic, coming from so far away.
And later, when I moved to Germany and I used to fly in and out of FRA, I recall seeing the QF 744s sitting all day at the remote parking stands, where now Terminal 3 is being built. They would arrive in the early moring hours, sit all day at the remote stand and fly out in the evening, an Australian bird resting its wings under the German sky. Cool times!

Great pictures and video. Indeed a big shame but I guess inevitable anyway. Thanks for sharing

Can see that she is starting to drawn the Kangaroo off the Newcastle Coast.

tullamarine wrote:

Qantas737 wrote:

Just listening to Sydney Departures now and it sounds like QF7474 is on it's way to complete some 'artwork'. Will be interesting to see what appears on FlightRadar.

I heard they were going to do a basic roo shape that would be visible on FR24

And right you are. They're about halfway through now. The sheer scale of it is impressive alone!

that lounge looks cool!

The "painting" on FR24 is quite spectacular. Well done to whoever thought of and planned this. A great tribute to the end of the 747 for you down under. I can't see British Airways doing anything like this when our last flight occurs.

Very cool “sky art”.

Impressive. Smile on face. Tear to eye.

Well done Qantas, looks cool



https://twitter.com/speedbird020/status ... 84545?s=21

Fantastic tribute!!! Flew upper deck FRA-SIN and back on OJT and OJC a long time ago - great memories.

My first ever flight on the Queen of the Skies was LHR-BKK on a QF 747-200. Happy days.

Thanks for your efforts, qf789, I'm glad QF's Queens got a sendoff. While (for geographical reasons) I associate the 747 more with BA than QF, there's no doubt QF is one of the most iconic operators of the 747, used to be an ever-present on QF's flagship routes. I always loved seeing them at LHR and SIN, the big red roo is so recognisable, and I don't think any QF 747 has looked anything other than stunning. Wunala Dreaming may be one of the most beautiful aircraft to ever exist.

What a great set of information you've put in this post. Loved the various routes back in the day - with Rome, Athens and Amsterdam all seeing services. Such a change from today, isn't it?

With regards to this...

qf789 wrote:

Over the years Qantas 747's have been used for rescued missions. In 1974 a Qantas 747 carried 674 passengers plus 23 crew out of DRW after Cyclone Tracey hit Darwin.

I always understood that the aircraft had 674 people on board in total. I've never seen it as 674 plus 23 crew for a total of 697. Just curious about this, because I think 674 is the total including crew. Happy to be corrected though!

Great post either way, really enjoyed the read, so thanks for putting it together!

Excellent send-off by QF. Shame BA doesn't appear to want to do anything similar. Come to think of it, VS haven't either.

Very sad day. QF is one of those airlines very closely associated with the 747. Had the pleasure in flying VH-OEF (the oneworld plane, which was built in 2005) 18 months ago from SFO to SYD. At the time, I was not thrilled to be flying on an aging aircraft with a dated cabin on a long flight, but it ended up being a great flight, with fabulous crew, and I loved all the noises you hear on the 747 from taxi, takeoff, in flight, and landing. A superb aircraft and an icon of aviation.

Cointrin330 wrote:

Had the pleasure in flying VH-OEF (the oneworld plane, which was built in 2005)

I apologise, this is the pedant in me, but -OEF was built in 2002. QF's youngest, -OEJ, was built in 2003.

Very sad to see the passing of the QF 747s, in the late 70s I remember seeing my first one at LHR parked over near the BA maintenance area (in the days when the planes used to cross the road), and of course in those days it was the classic 238Bs, and apart from the size of it looking at it as a 7-8 year old, I was curious to know where this majestic beast had come from. That day sparked my interest in geography in the wider sense and more importantly in the country she'd come from and the airline itself. The Qantas 747s, as they changed to the 747-338s became hard to spot at LHR, as in those days they came in early and left late at night and would often be parked on a remote stand during the day out of general sight, so that added a bit of mystic to their appearance, when you did see one in daylight hours.

So when a friend and work colleague in MEL was getting married a few years ago in 2011, I decided I would go.... I also knew exactly what I wanted to fly on, to get down there as well. Some thirty odd years later from that close encounter, I'd be finally getting to go on one of those magical 747s with the Flying Kangaroo on the tail! Come the day of the flight, "JQ" operated the LHR-HKG-MEL flight and what a trip, coming back on my first A380 as well. Having waited all that time, I decided on a second trip just three months later, so was lucky enough to bag a ER version, "EH" LHR-HKG this time as well. Before long the 747s stopped coming to LHR, so I was lucky to do it when I got the chance to.

We still have "JA" and "BQ" , but it wont be quite the same passing through SYD again, looking around for any old friends, that are sadly no longer there.

With KLM, BA and Qantas bidding farewell to the 747, it's really now the early Winter for the passenger 747s at least, these things don't last forever, like the Concorde, "I'll do that one day", then things change and before you know it, it's too late to do it....

An excellent send off indeed.

Farewell and Godspeed, Aussie Queen of the Skies.... the end of an era. A significant one for a significant airline and aircraft.

So sad that Covid-19 accelerates the demise of the 744 passenger plane. And so sad that THE 747 airline, Qantas, hasnt ordered the 747-8!
Thank you for the tribute! Great that QF opted for such an interesting flight pattern. Hopefully they fly a "747" pattern before landing!

Magnificent thread! So sad.

Here is an EXCELLENT web page/site devoted to QF's first 747, -238B VH-EBA, with a huge amount of wonderful pics, many probably "never" seen before: http://www.aussieairliners.org/b-747/vh-eba/vheba.html

Sad day indeed. My first ever B747 flight was Air France LAX-CDG in 1984. Last was Air France LAX-CDG in 2000. Was hoping to catch her arrival at LAX today but not likely gonna happen. Hopefully I can catch her departure to Mojave.

Wunala has arrived at Los Angeles for the final time, now taxiing to the Qantas hangar.

It's a sad day for the 747, but inevitable.

I don't want to seem like the guy who's complaining, but as an airline worker, I have given this a thought. I tried to imagine how much it would cost Qantas to do this publicity stunt.

Of course, I came up with these numbers by searching on the internet a few facts. I don’t fly a 747 and I’m not 100% sure on how much Qantas pays for each liter (or gallon) of fuel. There are obviously other factors involved here (speed, altitude, weather conditions, etc)

I just assumed “normal burn” for the entire time. I couldn’t find the price per liter that Qantas pays for Jet A, but in a “quarterly report”, made public by Air Canada, they expect to pay between $0.71 to $0.74 Canadian Dollars per LITER of Jet A. Canadian / Australian Dollar are somewhat on par, so I’ll use the same number.

Keeping all those uncertain factors in mind:
- Based on FR24 (Flight Radar 24) It took the flight roughly 2.5 hours from the moment it departed, until the flight completed the “display” and started to continue its trans-Pacific flight. I would imagine 0.5 hours was enough to get to the Start point, so let’s assume it took 2 hours to draw the whole “kangaroo diversion”. The rest would’ve been part of their flight plan anyway.
- The 747 burns 4 liters of Jet A per second. That’s 240 liters per minute, 14,400L per hour (747 or widebody pilots, please feel free to provide more accurate numbers).
- 2 hours would burn about 28,000 liters of Jet A.
- Assuming Qantas pays around $0.70 AUD per liter of Jet A, that would be a cost of $19, 600
IT COST QANTAS, ROUGHLY $20,000 AUD to do this stunt.

Normally, I wouldn’t say much about this, however given the crisis going on in the world today, workers being laid off, their benefits cut, the airlines asking for bailouts, it’s a little hard to swallow these “pills”. Even if it’s a drop in the bucket, in the grand scheme of things, every dollar count.

Again, my numbers may be way off, but no matter how you look at it, flying a 747 for an extra 2 hours is not cheap. How will you tell a ramp agent that their health benefits are being cut because “every penny counts”, yet you burn $20,000 to do a stunt that VERY FEW people see and understand. An airport / city flyover would've been sufficient. It’s not okay in my opinion, to literally burn money this way; not during the worst crisis the aviation world has ever seen.

Vio wrote:

It's a sad day for the 747, but inevitable.

I don't want to seem like the guy who's complaining, but as an airline worker, I have given this a thought. I tried to imagine how much it would cost Qantas to do this publicity stunt.

...
Again, my numbers may be way off, but no matter how you look at it, flying a 747 for an extra 2 hours is not cheap. How will you tell a ramp agent that their health benefits are being cut because “every penny counts”, yet you burn $20,000 to do a stunt that VERY FEW people see and understand. An airport / city flyover would've been sufficient. It’s not okay in my opinion, to literally burn money this way; not during the worst crisis the aviation world has ever seen.

I am impressed with your research, and although I don't necessarily agree that Qantas shouldn't have done it, I can understand where you're coming from. Just one side note, you stated that 'VERY FEW people see and understand,' however, nearly 40,000 people were tracking the flight out, and Qantas even put the flight playback on their social media. In my opinion I think the marketing justified the cost (besides them just wanting to do a proper send off), but that's just my 2 cents.

Vio wrote:

It's a sad day for the 747, but inevitable.

I don't want to seem like the guy who's complaining, but as an airline worker, I have given this a thought. I tried to imagine how much it would cost Qantas to do this publicity stunt.

Of course, I came up with these numbers by searching on the internet a few facts. I don’t fly a 747 and I’m not 100% sure on how much Qantas pays for each liter (or gallon) of fuel. There are obviously other factors involved here (speed, altitude, weather conditions, etc)

I just assumed “normal burn” for the entire time. I couldn’t find the price per liter that Qantas pays for Jet A, but in a “quarterly report”, made public by Air Canada, they expect to pay between $0.71 to $0.74 Canadian Dollars per LITER of Jet A. Canadian / Australian Dollar are somewhat on par, so I’ll use the same number.

Keeping all those uncertain factors in mind:
- Based on FR24 (Flight Radar 24) It took the flight roughly 2.5 hours from the moment it departed, until the flight completed the “display” and started to continue its trans-Pacific flight. I would imagine 0.5 hours was enough to get to the Start point, so let’s assume it took 2 hours to draw the whole “kangaroo diversion”. The rest would’ve been part of their flight plan anyway.
- The 747 burns 4 liters of Jet A per second. That’s 240 liters per minute, 14,400L per hour (747 or widebody pilots, please feel free to provide more accurate numbers).
- 2 hours would burn about 28,000 liters of Jet A.
- Assuming Qantas pays around $0.70 AUD per liter of Jet A, that would be a cost of $19,600

IT COSTS QANTAS, ROUGHLY $20,000 AUD to do this stunt.

Normally, I wouldn’t say much about this, however given the crisis going on in the world today, workers being laid off, their benefits cut, the airlines asking for bailouts, it’s a little hard to swallow these “pills”. Even if it’s a drop in the bucket, in the grand scheme of things, every dollar counts.

Again, my numbers may be way off, but no matter how you look at it, flying a 747 for an extra 2 hours is not cheap. How will you tell a ramp agent that their health benefits are being cut because “every penny counts”, yet you burn $20,000 to do a stunt that VERY FEW people see and understand. An airport / city flyover would've been sufficient. It’s not okay in my opinion, to literally burn money this way; not during the worst crisis the aviation world has ever seen.

*Edited for spelling*

Vio wrote:

It's a sad day for the 747, but inevitable.

I don't want to seem like the guy who's complaining, but as an airline worker, I have given this a thought. I tried to imagine how much it would cost Qantas to do this publicity stunt.

Of course, I came up with these numbers by searching on the internet a few facts. I don’t fly a 747 and I’m not 100% sure on how much Qantas pays for each liter (or gallon) of fuel. There are obviously other factors involved here (speed, altitude, weather conditions, etc)

I just assumed “normal burn” for the entire time. I couldn’t find the price per liter that Qantas pays for Jet A, but in a “quarterly report”, made public by Air Canada, they expect to pay between $0.71 to $0.74 Canadian Dollars per LITER of Jet A. Canadian / Australian Dollar are somewhat on par, so I’ll use the same number.

Keeping all those uncertain factors in mind:
- Based on FR24 (Flight Radar 24) It took the flight roughly 2.5 hours from the moment it departed, until the flight completed the “display” and started to continue its trans-Pacific flight. I would imagine 0.5 hours was enough to get to the Start point, so let’s assume it took 2 hours to draw the whole “kangaroo diversion”. The rest would’ve been part of their flight plan anyway.
- The 747 burns 4 liters of Jet A per second. That’s 240 liters per minute, 14,400L per hour (747 or widebody pilots, please feel free to provide more accurate numbers).
- 2 hours would burn about 28,000 liters of Jet A.
- Assuming Qantas pays around $0.70 AUD per liter of Jet A, that would be a cost of $19, 600
IT COST QANTAS, ROUGHLY $20,000 AUD to do this stunt.

Normally, I wouldn’t say much about this, however given the crisis going on in the world today, workers being laid off, their benefits cut, the airlines asking for bailouts, it’s a little hard to swallow these “pills”. Even if it’s a drop in the bucket, in the grand scheme of things, every dollar count.

Again, my numbers may be way off, but no matter how you look at it, flying a 747 for an extra 2 hours is not cheap. How will you tell a ramp agent that their health benefits are being cut because “every penny counts”, yet you burn $20,000 to do a stunt that VERY FEW people see and understand. An airport / city flyover would've been sufficient. It’s not okay in my opinion, to literally burn money this way; not during the worst crisis the aviation world has ever seen.

Dont take this the wrong way, but this is very much besides the point. Its not like it'll happen again.

A very sad day indeed. Yes, its an expensive move, but its a proper send off, and I think we can all agree that's all that matters at this point in time.

First flight on a Qantas 747 was May 1975. Sydney, Singapore. Kuala Lumpa, Bahrain, Amsterdam, Heathrow. 30hours. Had to pay for headphones and the first movie shown on the pull down screens was Mel Brooks "Silent Movie".

I’ve had messages from non AV people looking at the flight path, asking if it was real and saying how cool it is.

Just to be clear, there was more than the kangaroo drawing. After departure the aircraft did a fly-by over Sydney Harbour (twice actually) and then flew down to Wollongong and did a fly-by of the HARS Museum where OJA (the first QF744) is on display. After that they turned out to sea and started the artwork.

While few people saw it in person, Australian media lapped it up. Just about anyone who turned on the TV news or looked at a news website would know about it, so agree that from a marketing perspective it paid itself off.

qf789 wrote:

Im just adding some more things into opening post, should be about 30 minutes. Meanwhile OEJ should be on her way shortly

Great write up really enjoyed reading it . Love the old multi stop routings and some I never knew they did.
Always remember as a kid seeing Qantas at LHR. Really glad Qantas did this the PR well justifies the cost and some might say in the current doom and gloom we needed a distraction. The Kangaroo is brilliant.

The photos from http://www.aussieairliners.org/b-747/vh-eba/vheba.html posted earlier are just wonderful. What a great heritage.

Now there are no RR powered airplanes left in its active fleet.