KLM final flight B747
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Benelux
Posts: 41
KLM final flight B747
Today KLM Royal Dutch Airlines operated its final Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet passenger flight KL686 from Mexico City to Amsterdam Schiphol.
PH-BFT City of Tokyo was the last KLM B747-4 on duty
They have been phasing out and retiring their 747s. Another sad news for the real Queen of the Sky.
Give this plane a great tribute
https://www.airliners.net/photo/KLM-...-406/5948203/L
PH-BFT City of Tokyo was the last KLM B747-4 on duty
They have been phasing out and retiring their 747s. Another sad news for the real Queen of the Sky.
Give this plane a great tribute
https://www.airliners.net/photo/KLM-...-406/5948203/L
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Balmullo,Scotland
Posts: 932
I flew on one (C class) from AMS-ICN last December as much affection as I have the old girl unfortunately no longer fit for purpose, sorry to see them go but preferred the B787 also on C class last year. Similar thoughts about the B744 MIA-LHR also last year.
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Rockytop, Tennessee, USA
Posts: 5,899

Wasn't the first class champagne on SQ either Dom Perignon or Krug?
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Europe
Posts: 240
What makes her "no longer fit for the purpose" from a pax perspective? The 787 is even noisier on the inside, in my impression.
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Benelux
Posts: 345
I made quite a number of C class flights on KLM 747s. The first row window seats (main cabin) were also my favourite seats, but so they were for many other regulars too. So they were not always mine for the taking! The top deck was not for me as the dimensions of the storage bins next to the window seat were too limiting for my needs.
Join Date: Aug 1998
Location: London, UK
Posts: 1,968
If you mean as a freighter, that is not what it was originally designed for. Juan Trippe of Pan Am wanted a large capacity passenger airliner and Boeing built it for him. True that they used a lot of the work originally put in to Boeing's failed bid for the USAF C5 competition - but the 747 was significantly different from that.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Netherlands
Age: 44
Posts: 279
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: moraira,spain-Norfolk, UK
Age: 80
Posts: 387
Will those days ever return ?
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,877
The market has grown. You don’t have 380 PAX going JFK-LHR and then 50 connect to Rome and 80 connect to Paris and 70 go to FRA and 50 to Stockholm and 70 to Madrid. The airlines today (well, last month) can get 270 people who want to go to each of those destinations direct from JFK. Same out of any major hub. Plus the operating cost of 4 engines v. 2.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Netherlands
Age: 44
Posts: 279
The market has grown. You don’t have 380 PAX going JFK-LHR and then 50 connect to Rome and 80 connect to Paris and 70 go to FRA and 50 to Stockholm and 70 to Madrid. The airlines today (well, last month) can get 270 people who want to go to each of those destinations direct from JFK. Same out of any major hub. Plus the operating cost of 4 engines v. 2.
The truth is that high density seating (3-4-3) now makes airlines able to fit the same amount of passengers and even more cargo into a 777-300, which is much more fuel efficient.
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Singapore
Posts: 320
Yes indeed .The good thing about SQ in those days was no restrictions on deadheading crew (i.e off duty ) . You boarded before the pax , generally got F or J if available ( and F/O often upgraded with the Capt ) . Once on board , the first thing you did was change out of uniform and get stuck into the Dom or Krug , as you preferred .
As I fondly recall , the hosty insisted I alone polish off two bottles of DP on a dhd SIN-LHR . Slept well . Happy days on the Jumbo fleet .
Sadly , these protocols were somewhat different on certain ME airlines ; dhd ORD- DOH in Y with only orange juice for sustenance ; not nice....
As I fondly recall , the hosty insisted I alone polish off two bottles of DP on a dhd SIN-LHR . Slept well . Happy days on the Jumbo fleet .
Sadly , these protocols were somewhat different on certain ME airlines ; dhd ORD- DOH in Y with only orange juice for sustenance ; not nice....
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Singapore
Posts: 320
Singapore Girl, always a " Great way to Fly " . A pity such ads now consigned to the dustbins of history by the PC/ me too - brigade .
( apologies for the thread drift , but it is synonymous with the 747 era . Who remembers the Braniff 747 girls uniform ? See you on Jet Blast !).
( apologies for the thread drift , but it is synonymous with the 747 era . Who remembers the Braniff 747 girls uniform ? See you on Jet Blast !).