JAL to Retire Oldest 747s by August

Yomiuri

All seven Boeing 747-300 jumbo jets flown by Japan Airlines will be retired from service at the end of this month, the airline said.

Currently, JAL is the country's only airline still using the earliest-generation Boeing 747, whose model numbers range from 100 to 300.

They have become less popular in recent years as airlines turn to smaller and more fuel-efficient passenger planes.

Wednesday's announcement closes a historic chapter for the jumbo jets, and it is expected many people will miss the seven soon-to-be-retired JAL aircraft.

The first-generation Boeing 747 models were introduced to Japan in 1970, each with a cockpit for three: the pilot, copilot and flight engineer. The JAL jumbo jet that crashed into Mt. Osutaka in Gunma Prefecture in August 1985 was of the same type.

Nowadays, it has become the norm that only a pilot and copilot operate jet planes.

Jumbo jets were originally built for international flights, but in Japan they have been used for domestic flights as well, such as routes between Haneda Airport in Tokyo and Itami Airport in Osaka Prefecture. The landing gear of the jumbo jets used on domestic routes were reinforced to withstand frequent takeoffs and landings.

JAL, All Nippon Airways and other airlines introduced about 100 of the models at the time, and they proved popular with travelers.

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