Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) has confirmed that it will not return its B747-400ERs to service but will instead conclude their operations with three "farewell joy flights" due later this month. The event will mark the end of B747 passenger operations for the carrier.
The Australian airline said the sightseeing flights will depart from Sydney Kingsford Smith on July 13, Brisbane International on July 15, and Canberra on July 17. Each flight will arrive back at its departure airport. Limited seats will be sold to passengers on a cost-recovery basis.
The Australian airline has been an operator of the B747 Family since 1971. It had five B747-400(ER)s remaining at the end of March 2020, when the pandemic started to affect the airline. The last revenue service of the type was operated on March 29, 2020, by VH-OEE (msn 32909), as QF28 from Santiago de Chile to Sydney.
Since then, all but one of the Boeing quadjets have been ferried for storage at Mojave airport. The last remaining unit, which will be used for the farewell flights, is VH-OEJ (msn 32914), which has been parked at Sydney since March 27, 2020. It will be ferried for storage on July 22.
Qantas Freight (Sydney Kingsford Smith) continues to operate the freighter variant of the B747 wet-leasing a B747-400FSCD and two B747-8(F)s from Atlas Air (5Y, New York JFK).
