The queen of the skies is returning! Lufthansa recently announced the return of their Boeing 747-400s from dessert storage and they are being used on routes across the world. Let’s find out why, when, and where these beautiful aircraft are returning.

They came into play on 1st October 2021 After a really rough year and a half for lovers of the queen of the skies. Most airlines have retired the Jumbo due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and those that haven’t mainly are using the -8 variant as it first flew with Lufthansa in 2012. One of the routes that the aircraft is said to be used in is from Frankfurt, Germany to Qingdao, China. A 747 has also been spotted on route to Chicago as well.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Lufthansa’s full fleet will be returning using sources from Cirrium.com.

Why were the planes being retired in the first place?

Exactly a year ago today (9th October 2021) the last British airways Boeing 747 left London Heathrow, a time geeks from across the world would never forget. Other airlines followed suit, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, and even Boeing announcing that the last 747 would be delivered in 2022. These planes were being retired because of their low-efficiency rates and the fact that they didn’t have the demand to fill these massive airliners due to the pandemic. A single Boeing 787 Dreamliner could get you a lot further than a 747 and this proved it’s a point by Qantas using 787s on their project sunrise flights to London and New York.

What do the 747s have in store for them in the near future?

The 747s should be flying on long-haul routes from Germany until at least 2023 until the 777 steps into play. They can be expected to be used on routes across the globe and mainly to American and Asia. However, the fleets of the aircraft are under half of what they used to be as the pandemic draws to a close and travel begins to get back on track.

As the pandemic begins to fall, and vaccination rates rise, we can see more and more air travel opened up to normal. Hopefully, we can see more airlines returning to their normal pre-pandemic fleets, but for now, it’s just Lufthansa on that one.

Sources

• simpleflying.com
• flightradar24.com
• wikipedia.com
• airwaysmag.com (Cover Photo)