Mumbai: On Monday (April 21) morning, staff at the Air India City Airport bid farewell to their last queen of the skies – the iconic Boeing 747 aircraft that has served the airline for nearly 50 years on commercial, VVIP and evacuation flights.
As the double-decker plane took to the skies over Mumbai on its way to the US, a “wing flapping” motion also marked the end of an era for Indian aviation, which began flying in 1932 and is now owned by the Tata Group. .
A “wing wave” is a side-to-side movement of an aircraft into the wind, usually done when the aircraft is retiring.
According to officials, the Boeing 747 operated several important flights for Air India in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, including two medical evacuation flights to Wuhan, China.
Air India has shared a video clip of a Boeing 747 taking off from Mumbai airport and doing “wing flapping”, saying it will miss the aircraft’s iconic image.
“Today we bid farewell to the first B747 on the last ‘Queen of the Skies’ to fly from Mumbai. Thank you for creating a glorious era of flying. Your iconic presence will be missed,” the airline said at X.
Video footage shows the plane taxiing and taking off, with several Air India personnel waving and “winging” movements towards the plane.
This flight is the most tracked on Flightradar24 website.
The Mumbai airport operator shared the video clip on Monday saying an Air India Boeing 747 had taken off its last flight from the airport.
“We are all in awe of witnessing this historic moment and giving you a perfect send-off wave as you bid farewell to your GatewayToGoodness ,” the statement said.
Air India acquired its first Boeing 747 in 1971 and the iconic aircraft made its last commercial flight on domestic routes in March 2021.
The Boeing 747 named “Agra” took off from Mumbai airport on Monday and was commissioned by the then government-owned Air India in October 1996.
Air India recently sold its remaining four Boeing 747s.
The Boeing 747, known as the “Queen of the Skies”, long carried the President, Vice President and Prime Minister of India before being replaced by the Boeing 777.
Air India’s fleet of 747 aircraft has a total of 423 seats, including 12 first class seats, 26 business class seats and 385 economy class seats.
Boeing introduced the first B747-100 aircraft on September 30, 1968, and the first 747 entered service on January 21, 1970 on the New York–London route with launch customer Pan Am Airways.
Air India was one of the first customers of these aircraft, inducting the 500-seat aircraft into its fleet in early 1971. Air India has been using these two aircraft for commercial operations for over 50 years as well as commercial operations. Flying VVIPs, the President, Vice President and Prime Minister, these aircraft were replaced by two refurbished B777s in October 2020.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has deregistered all four 747 aircraft that Air India and later the Tata Group decided to sell in November 2022.
In July 2020, after nearly 52 years of running the iconic jumbo aircraft program, the aircraft manufacturer announced that it would end production of the Queen of the Sky by the end of 2022 due to market preference.
Atlas Air is the last 747 customer with orders for four 747-8 freighters, according to Boeing. The last B747 entered the manufacturing facility on December 6, 2022.
Over 55 years, Boeing has built 1,574 four-engine B747 aircraft for more than 100 customers, including Air India.
Loss-making Air India was acquired by the Tata Group in January 2022.
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