Singapore Airlines bid farewell to its Boeing 747 passenger fleet on April 6, with special commemorative flights between Singapore and Hong Kong, the airline said. Flight SQ747 departed Singapore's Changi Airport at 0830hrs after a series of celebratory events at Gate B7 in Terminal 3. The flight was operated with aircraft '9V-SPQ', which was the last B747-400 that SIA took delivery of in 2001.
More than 350 customers and crew, as well as media and other invited guests, were on board flight SQ747, which commemorated the B747's 38-year history with the airline. They include SIA's first B747 pilot, retired Captain Kenneth Toft. Twenty students and guardians from Singapore's Chaoyang School were also on the flight, bound for a weekend in Hong Kong courtesy of SIA. It was the first flight experience for most of the students, the statement said.
"The 747 was truly the jewel in our fleet for nearly four decades, and we would not be the airline that we are today if we had not made the bold decision in 1972 to purchase this iconic jetliner," said Singapore Airlines' Executive Vice President Commercial, Mak Swee Wah, who led the festivities on board flights SQ747 and SQ748. "The jumbo enabled us to fly from Singapore to destinations that we could not previously reached. It also allowed us to do things that were previously unimaginable on a commercial aircraft, giving us the opportunity to provide our customers new standards in space and comfort."
Aircraft '9V-SPQ' was the last B747 remaining in SIA's passenger fleet. In 1994, SIA became the world's biggest B747-400 operator when it took delivery of its 23rd of the type. By 2003, SIA operated a record 51 Boeing 747- 400s, comprising 39 passenger variants and 12 freighters. |
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