The Boeing 747, also known as the ‘Queen of Skies,’ took to the skies for the first time in February 1969. Its entry into service, and the anniversary marked by this article, was almost a year later, on January 22, 1970. The jet’s first commercial operator was Pan Am.

In this article, we will discover the history of the Queen of the Skies and how it transformed the aviation industry. We will also look into how some 747s continue to have commercial relevance.

Behind The 747’s Pan Am Order & Inaugural Flight

Pan Am was famously incredibly enthusiastic about the 747 from the program’s start. Development began in the mid-1960s, reportedly following close communications between BoeingPresident William Allen and Pan Am President Juan Trippe. According to legend, Trippe told Allen, « If you’ll build it, I’ll buy it. » Allen then replied, « If you buy it, I’ll build it. » Both men kept their promises, and Pan Am executives finalized their order in 1966 for 25 aircraft worth $20 million each.

By the time the Boeing 747 was ready for launch, 25 other airlines had made orders, fearing that not owning the aircraft would make them obsolete compared to the mighty Pan Am. Boeing later estimated that half of these orders were by airlines that needed the jet’s range rather than its enormous capacity. In celebration, 26 flight attendants, one representing each customer airline, posed in front of the first prototype.

Pan Am’s first 747 flight was on January 22, 1970. That was a day after the originally scheduled date, due to technical difficulties that temporarily grounded the jet. Instead, a second 747 was christened Clipper Young America and executed the flight. The flight carried 335 passengers and 20 crew members, and was between New York JFK and London Heathrow. The landing in London was later famously commemorated in a watercolor by the painter John McCoy.

First Flights From Other Airlines Quickly Followed

2026 will be littered with 56th anniversaries of airlines’ first Boeing 747 flights as other carriers rushed their ‘jumbo jets’ into service. Next after Pan Am was Trans World Airlines (TWA), which took delivery of its first Boeing 747 on New Year’s Eve in 1969. It carried out its first commercial flight with the jet on February 25, 1970. The carrier recognized the infrastructure requirements of the aircraft and built ‘Flight Wing One’ at New York JFK a year later.

This terminal was built purely to handle large quadjets, with the ability to accommodate four 747s and three 707s simultaneously. By the end of 1970, TWA had 14 747s in its fleet and five on order. Another carrier quick to add the 747 to its roster was American Airlines, leasing two 747s from Pan Am at the start of 1970. Another leased 747 and 16 further jets in American Airlines’ ownership would arrive at the end of the year.

The 747 also quickly had an impact on Asian aviation, albeit not for another year. Air India was the first carrier from the region to fly the type, receiving its maiden 747 in March 1971. Beginning on May 21 of that year, the carrier began using the jet for four weekly flights from India to the UK. Japan Airlines also began its 747 operations in 1971. Known as the ‘Garden Jet’, the aircraft’s interior had a different Japanese garden theme for each class.

Size & Range

The Boeing 747 brought previously unfathomable range and scale to the aviation industry. This huge jet could carry 366 to 452 passengers in a standard configuration, or up to 568 passengers in high-density layouts. The jet’s maximum takeoff weight was 735,000 pounds (333 tonnes), and its range was 5,300 nautical miles (9,800 km). Each subsequent variant of this aircraft added to each of these specifications.

The heavy lift and long-range capabilities led many 747-100s to later be converted into freighters, although no freighter version of this variant was built by Boeing. Its upper deck also created space for a uniquely premium flying experience. The first 747-100s had six upper-deck windows and a space used by airlines for a lounge. Later, Boeing 747-100s had ten upper deck windows on either side as an option for carriers who wanted to use the space for premium passenger seating.

The aircraft’s high range allowed for the growth of the hub-and-spoke model, whereby carriers would fly their largest jets between huge hubs, and then use their smaller jets for short-haul flights to passengers’ destinations. The concept was clearly popular, with Boeing selling 167 Boeing 747-100s to customers, at a unit cost of $24 million in 1972.

The 747 Almost Lost Its Impact

The 747’s journey hasn’t all been smooth cruising. Instead, events like the recession of 1969-1970 and the 1973 oil crisis, as well as headwinds in the aviation industry, hit the jumbo jet hard. Layoffs began in 1969, and in 1971, the US government cut funding to Boeing’s supersonic transport program. By the end of that year, the company had lost 60% of its workforce and was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Global economic instability reduced air travel, and Boeing sold just two 747s in the 18 months after September 1970, both to Aer Lingus. It was three years before another US-based carrier ordered the aircraft. Instead, airlines dealt with reduced passenger traffic by purchasing smaller aircraft from various manufacturers, such as the recently introduced McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar.

It was the very characteristics that had made the 747 so appealing that caused many airlines to turn their backs on the jet. Its enormous size meant that the 747 had a staggeringly low cost-per-seat to operate, but only when each seat was occupied. Meanwhile, flights that had only 70% of seats occupied had a 95% higher fuel burn per occupied seat. If airlines couldn’t sell-out 747s flights, they couldn’t operate the jet profitably.

The 747 Survived & Made Jets Bigger

The clearest impact that the 747 had was that it paved the way for jets to get far bigger. The most obvious example is the Airbus A380, another double-decker quadjet. The 747 had shown an appetite among airlines for a high-capacity long-haul jet for hub-to-hub aviation, both for profitability and as a carrier’s flagship. This was before the current era when advanced twinjets can match jumbos for range, like the A350, so aircraft like the 747 were vital to sustain hub-and-spoke approaches.

However, the A380 was not simply an updated copy of the 747. Instead, there were several significant breaks from the 747 blueprint, such as the fact that the A380 has a completely double-decker fuselage, whereas the 747 just has a hump on the top deck. This was because Boeing assumed its jumbo would be replaced by supersonic jets like Concorde and the planned Boeing 2707.

As such, the hump was designed with cargo in mind, as Boeing believed the jet would need to easily pivot to a freighter, while simultaneously offering high-capacity and long-range. The A380’s designers, however, did not have such concerns.

The 747 Continues To Have An Important Role In Global Aviation

Observing the impact of the 747 is not only about studying the jet’s history, but also its present. For several reasons, many carriers in both freight and passenger aviation continue to profit from their 747 operations. Although the 747-100 is certainly a thing of the past, there are around 28 active passenger Boeing 747-8s in service. These jets range in age from 8 to 15 years, and the majority are operated by Lufthansa (16), with Air China and Korean Air each operating six.

As Simple Flying recently wrote, the Boeing 747-8 will survive « because its service network is concentrated in a few places that can justify its continued operations. » The jet offers capacity that approaches that of the Airbus A380 and also provides operators with a significant amount of belly cargo.

The most commonly used example of continued 747 operations is Lufthansa. This carrier uses its 747-8s to fly high-demand, long-haul routes from its hub in Frankfurt, which serve major cities in the Americas and Asia. The older and less common 747-400s are deployed as stop-gap aircraft to destinations like Singapore and New York. Elsewhere, cargo 747-8s comfortably outsold their passenger counterparts, and this is the sector where the type has the brightest future.