Airlines Bid Early Farewell to Iconic Jumbo Jets
Pandemic prompts retirement of Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 in favor of smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft
By Evan Dougherty
Published August 10, 2020
Read Time: 5 mins
Some airplanes won’t survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the global health crisis continues to disrupt the aviation industry, more airlines are retiring entire fleets of aircraft – including some aviation icons: the Boeing 747, Airbus A380 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80, to name a few.
Why are these planes retiring? One reason is that major carriers like American, United and Delta are simply preparing to become smaller airlines. As a result of the drop in travel demand and in an effort to cut costs, the big three U.S. airlines are anticipating the need to reduce their networks and operations, and will likely furlough thousands of employees.
“Watching airlines retire their fleets . . . feels like a gut punch,” said Jeb Brooks, a North Carolina-based aviation blogger. “These are more than mere machines – they demonstrate incredible engineering, they’ve created countless memories and represent thousands of jobs.”
While some aircraft retirements were inevitable, like Delta’s aging MD-88, other announcements took aviation professionals and enthusiasts by surprise. That’s especially true of the iconic Boeing 747, fondly referred to as the “Queen of the Skies.”

In August 2019, a British Airways Boeing 747 diverted to PIT for a gas-n-go diversion due to inclement weather on the east coast. (Photo by Dan Graban)
The 747 was the first passenger “jumbo jet” to enter commercial service. Its four engines and upper passenger deck, otherwise known as its “hump,” made the plane instantly recognizable. The aircraft allowed airlines to expand globally and offered new luxury for travelers.
“Flying on a 747 is an amazing experience – I don’t think the exuberance I feel when boarding a 747 is limited to people like me,” said Brooks, who has done trip reports on many of the planes. “It seems like nearly everyone recognizes the distinctive shape of a 747 and gets a twinge of excitement when walking down a jet bridge toward one of these machines. A terminal window overlooking a 747 resting at its gate is rarely without at least a few people with cameras.”
Australian-based Qantas was one of the first airlines to begin flying the Boeing 747, starting with that carrier in 1971. (Pan Am was the first in 1970.) Since then, the 747 has played an important role in connecting Australia, a geographically remote county, to the rest of the world.
The airline wasn’t planning on retiring the aircraft until early 2021 but has accelerated that schedule because of the drop in passenger demand.
“It’s hard to overstate the impact that the 747 had on aviation and