British Airways Grounds All Boeing 747 Fleet, Blames Covid- 19
British Airways has announced the scrapping of its entire Boeing 747- 400 fleet.
The airline, which is owned by the International Airlines Group, said the fleet would be grounded with immediate effect.
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The company made the announcement against its earlier decision to ground the Boeing 747 fleet in 2024.
British Airways in the statement blamed the development on the impact of COVID- 19 on global.
Airlines globally have been hit by the travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.
British Airways told BBC that, “It is with great sadness that we can confirm we are proposing to retire our entire 747 fleet with immediate effect.
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“It is unlikely our magnificent ‘queen of the skies’ will ever operate commercial services for British Airways again due to the downturn in travel caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
“While the aircraft will always have a special place in our heart, as we head into the future we will be operating more flights on modern, fuel-efficient aircraft such as our new A350s and 787s, to help us achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
Details of British Airways’ operations revealed that the Boeing 747 aircrafts represent about ten per cent of its entire fleet.
Similarly, Qantas Airlines is also grounding its fleet of 747 aircrafts after 50 years of operation in Australian.
“An aviation icon and the aircraft most pilots grew up wanting to fly. A few hours ago @British_Airways announced the retirement of the @Boeing 747-400. A favourite with pilots and cabin crew and, along with Concorde, the most recognisable aircraft in the world. ‘The Queen’,” Dave Wallsworth said in a tweet seen by THE WHISTLER.
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