July 23, 2020, 12:10 PM
Australian's national carrier Qantas has retired its last Boeing 747 jumbo jet on July 22, 2020.
Retired last Boeing 747
It departed Sydney at 2pm as flight number QF7474 and will depart to Los Angeles.
It will then retire at an aircraft graveyard at the Mojave Desert in California.
To mark the end of an era, the last flight did a flyby over Sydney Harbour, Central Business District and northern and easter suburbs beaches.
It also did a low level overfly of HARS Museum (Albion Park).
The last flight will then go to Los Angeles with a full cargo hold of freight before it retires at an aircraft graveyard at the Mojave Desert in California.
15 hours after leaving Sydney, it’s touchdown in Los Angeles for #QF7474. https://t.co/JHQGpYId8d pic.twitter.com/Wrum3AVcVe
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 22, 2020
Kangaroo drawing
And as if that wasn't commemorative enough, the pilots on the flight, including Qantas's first female captain Sharelle Quinn, drew the company's iconic kangaroo logo in the sky.
Low passes over Sydney, a wing wave to VH-OJA at HARS, and a 63,000 sq km kangaroo. @Qantas sends off its final 747 with a fitting farewell. https://t.co/sDyfwbqKt3 #QF7474 #747Farewell pic.twitter.com/lEFdNplduB
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 22, 2020
Qantas first got its first Boeing 747 close to 50 years ago on Aug. 1971.
The carrier brought forward the scheduled retirement of the fleet by six months as the Covid-19 pandemic decimated international travel globally.
Top image from Qantas & Flightradar24.
If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram to get the latest updates.