Jumbo jets have almost disappeared, but one airline is sticking with them
Each slowed from their purposeful stride, or stopped entirely, transfixed. For parked on the apron in the near darkness, with twinkling navigation lights suggesting imminent distant adventures, was a Boeing 747-8. Huge, majestic – and very rare.
There are 25,000 blue whales, an animal to which the jumbo jet is frequently compared, navigating the planet, but now only about 50 747s in active passenger service, the vast majority of top-tier carriers (including Qantas in 2020), having retired them in favour of newer models.
Their decline has been long and drawn out, but was hastened by the COVID pandemic, which saw hundreds sold to cargo airlines or simply scrapped. It seems this four-engine behemoth, first flown commercially in 1970, is no longer financially viable in an era of increasingly-efficient twin-engined jets. The final passenger-configured jumbo was delivered eight years ago, and Boeing has no plans to restart the production line.
But one European airline hasn't turned its back on the 747 just yet. Germany's Lufthansa, perceived by many to be aviation's kings of efficiency, still operates 27 jumbo jets – 19 of the newer 747-8s, and eight older, slightly smaller 747-400s – and is even upgrading some jumbo jet interiors with swanky new Allegris seats as part of a €2.5 billion ($A4.4 billion) Lufthansa fleet-wide refit.
Why the lingering attachment? Part of the reason is simple and unromantic economics. According to aviation analysts, operations out of its Frankfurt and Munich hubs are each at take-off slot capacity.
So, with flight numbers capped, Lufthansa really needs its biggest aircraft, and the 364-seat 747s-8s drop neatly between the Airbus A350 (293 seats) and A380 (455 seats).
Furthermore, jumbos, despite their age, have a cracking range of nearly 13,000 kilometres and remain among the fastest passenger jets in the sky (reaching speeds of more than 1100 km/h).
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