It’s a good choice for RR to use as a test bed as its airframe still has a lot of life left in it. The last nine QF B747’s to be retired are only at 3/4 of the normal commercial life that Qantas normally use - they are being retired early for reasons other than their age.
The GE flying testbed is a very old classic B747 and it will probably be replaced by the former VH-OEB which is a GE powered B747-400. It’s an airframe that has more than 6 years extra airline operations than OJU so it will have more fatigue issues.
Last edited by Going Boeing; 20th Oct 2019 at 22:18.