Originally Posted by
megan
What routes did Qantas envisage using the SP on rog? Did fly on their SP Sydney to Los Angeles, also flew on the Pan Am SP in the early days Los Angeles to Sydney, had to make an unexpected stop in Nandi for a splash of fuel as the winds were against us, stayed on board for the half hour it took to accomplish, told the early engines were not quite there with fuel efficiency.
Contrary to some popular belief,
QANTAS did not acquire the Boeing 747SP for the SYD-LAX route but originally to serve Sydney-Wellington profitably as the weather in Wellington was erratic and the runway too short for 747-238B's.
The airline's original plan was to use them to connect Sydney to New Zealand's capital, Wellington - located on the southern tip of the North Island of the New Zealand.
Wellington had a short runway that made operations by the existing 747s impossible.
In addition, the airport was frequently affected by erratic winds and poor weather. QANTAS's original intent was to use the 747SP's ability to operate on shorter runways to serve Wellington with more profitable payloads despite the operational limits placed by the airport authorities for safety reasons.
With a shorter fuselage but essentially the same power as the regular 747-200, they were known for their brisk performance.
The SP's were ordered in 1980 and had Rolls Royce RB211 524 B2,
then D2/D4 engines.
These aircraft were originally ordered by Iran Air but their export was banned following the Iranian Revolution and were purchased by Qantas while still on the Boeing production line.
VH-EAA "City of Gold Coast Tweed" and VH-EAB which was first named Winton, then renamed "City of Traralgon" were both delivered in 1981.
The first QANTAS 747SP (VH-EAA) flew QANTAS Flight 55 Sydney to Wellington,
but had to divert to Auckland due to poor weather at Wellington.
Only QANTAS captains were allowed to land the 747SP at Wellington as the first officer monitored the approach which was conducted at 125 knots to insure that the landing could be made using the markers painted on the runway. Landing too fast, too high, or too long, was a mandatory go-around.
It wasn't until 1984 that the airline's 747SPs were used on the Sydney to Los Angeles route.
They did expand to other Pacific destinations prior to then, such as to HNL.
They were occasionally seen at LHR.
Both aircraft were used by the airline's Australia Asia subsidiary for politically-sensitive service to Taipei.
Both were listed
for sale in 1990, and again in 1997.
The SPs were withdrawn in late 2001 and sent to Marana, Arizona, and were scrapped there.
Trans World Airlines operated three Boeing 747SPs between 1980 and 1986.
TWA's 747SP's were intended for the Persian Gulf and Asia, I don't remember if it was for Iran or Saudi Arabia, and they ordered three 747SPs for 1980 in anticipation of being awarded the new long range routes which did not materialize, so they ended up flying the SPs on Transatlantic routes mainly out of LAX, JFK or BOS.....primarily the LHR, Rome, Tel Aviv, and Cairo flights, and they flew some other Transatlantic services such as to Paris and Athens, depending upon the season...
They were ordered in anticipation of increased non stop service to the Middle East
which never materialised.
TWA had to keep them for a few years so they just filled in where they could be most useful - often on 747 routes
that were difficult to fill up.
That said they made ideal aircraft substitutions because they were underutilised and had flight deck commonality with TWA's large fleet of B747-131's, and could therefore be seen pretty much anywhere the TWA B747's went...
TWA did not need the extra range of the 747SP and disposed of the airplanes as quickly as practical: two went to AA (for use on their newly awarded DFW-Tokyo route....the SPs flew this route for years until AA took delivery of MD11s) and one was sold to an individual in the Gulf for use as a private aircraft.
When
Pan Am completed the sale of its Pacific Division to United Airlines in 1986, its 11 747SPs formed part of the deal and were not seen in Pan Am’s colours again.