One of British Airways’ last remaining Boeing 747 aircraft took to the skies for the final time this weekend, setting off for its new home at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.
Adorned in the iconic Landor livery, the heritage Centenary jumbo jet - registration G-BNLY – departed from British Airways’ engineering base in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon.
Since entering the British Airways fleet in February 1993, G-BNLY has operated 14,016 flights and flown for more than 122,358 hours over nearly 60million miles.
Its last passenger flight was from Cape Town to Heathrow on March 22.
Following its short journey to Dunsfold, where it will be preserved for future generations to enjoy, it performed a final fly over before being welcomed by a small crowd of enthusiastic spectators.
The airline announced in the summer that all 31 of its jumbo jets had flown their last commercial services.
The fleet is being retired at an accelerated rate as a result of the devastating impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the airline and the aviation sector.
Al Bridger, British Airways’ director of flight operations, said: “ All of us at British Airways and so many of our customers will have fond memories and special moments from our travels on the iconic jumbo jet.
“As a pilot who was lucky enough to fly the aircraft, the sheer scale of it was unforgettable, you literally looked down on other aircraft. It changed aviation forever when it arrived in the skies and I know I speak for our customers and the global aviation community when I say, despite rightly moving to more sustainable ways of flying, we will still miss the 747 dearly.”
