space shuttles for NASA, and Boeing has delivered more than 1,500 747 passenger jets in the past half century. That’s quite a feat for an aircraft which was designed in the 1960s. As aviation regulations have changed and jetengine technology has improved making it safer for aircraft to fly long distances with just two engines, in 2018 there’s no appreciable demand left for
building new passenger 747s, or for the rival Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger plane. But with more than 400 passenger 747s still in service, Boeing can take comfort in the fact that there are still many more of its fifty year-old Queen Of The Skies criss-crossing the planet than Airbus A380s, of which just a few hundred have been delivered to date. So, for the next few years at least, Boeing’s 747 will continue to wear her aviation crown.. Sep-Nov 2018 The Cultured Traveller 153