Pins matching tag:747

On 13 April 1966 Boeing announced a US$525 million order from Pan American World Airways for 25 Model 747 jumbo jets, the launch order that started the 747 program. The deal committed Boeing to design the world's largest airliner and build a factory to assemble it.

Boeing rolled out the first 747 from its new Everett, Washington factory on 30 September 1968 before representatives of 26 airlines. The 231-foot jumbo jet was the first widebody and was christened by 26 flight attendants, one from each customer airline.

The FAA certificated the Boeing 747 on 30 December 1969 after about 10 months of flight testing, clearing the first widebody jetliner for airline service. Pan Am's first revenue flight followed on 22 January 1970.

The shortened, long-range Boeing 747SP flew for the first time on 4 July 1975. Built for Pan Am's New York-Middle East routes, it entered service with Pan Am on 25 April 1976.

The first Boeing 747-400, N401PW, flew from Paine Field on 29 April 1988, six weeks behind schedule. The advanced 747 added a two-crew glass cockpit, winglets and new engines, and went on to be the most common 747 variant.

On 16 August 1989 Qantas' first Boeing 747-400, VH-OJA City of Canberra, flew non-stop from London Heathrow to Sydney in 20 hours 9 minutes, setting FAI distance and speed records. It landed with under 900 kg of fuel to spare.

Boeing launched the 747-8 program on 14 November 2005, with Cargolux ordering 10 freighters and Nippon Cargo Airlines eight, orders valued at about US$5 billion at list prices. The stretched 747 would use GEnx engines and Dreamliner technology.

Boeing's 747-8 Freighter, the largest airplane the company had built, flew for the first time from Paine Field on 8 February 2010, a year later than planned. The 3 hour 39 minute flight began a test program of more than 1,600 flight hours.

Boeing handed over the first 747-8 Intercontinental delivered to an airline, D-ABYA for Lufthansa, in Everett on 25 April 2012. The airplane flew to Frankfurt on 1 May and began revenue flights to Washington Dulles on 1 June.

Boeing delivered the last 747, a 747-8 Freighter for Atlas Air, in Everett on 31 January 2023 before thousands of employees and guests. It was the 1,574th 747 built, ending more than half a century of production.