After 53 years of production, the Washington state assembly line of Boeing Commercial Airplanes ceased to manufacture Boeing 747. The last plane of the 1,573 produced so far has been delivered to Cargo carrier Atlas Air.
Dubbed "Jumbo Jet", the 747 was the largest commercial aircraft in the world and the first with two aisles, and it still towers over most other planes.
The long-range wide-body airliner has taken on numerous roles as a cargo plane, a commercial aircraft capable of carrying nearly 500 passengers and as the Air Force One presidential aircraft.
The 747′s design included a second deck extending from the cockpit back over the first third of the plane, giving it a distinctive hump that made the plane instantly recognizable and inspired a nickname, the Whale. More elegantly, the 747 became known as the Queen of the Skies.
It took more than 50,000 Boeing employees less than 16 months to churn out the first 747. The company has completed 1,573 more since then.
Delta was the last US. airline to use the 747 for passenger flights, which ended in 2017, although some other international carriers continue to fly it, including the German airline Lufthansa.
Boeing’s roots are in the Seattle area, and it has assembly plants in Washington state and South Carolina. The company announced in May that it would move its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia.
The move to the Washington, D.C., area puts its executives closer to key federal government officials and the Federal Aviation Administration, which certifies Boeing passenger and cargo planes.
Boeing’s relationship with the FAA has been strained since deadly crashes of its best-selling plane, the 737 Max, in 2018 and 2019. The FAA took nearly two years — far longer than Boeing expected — to approve design changes and allow the plane back in the air.
(With AP inputs)
