The Boeing 747 has become a rarity in the sky. At least in passenger operations, but if you are in cargo, chances are you come across one or two daily. Of course, you still have a pretty good chance of flying on one as a paying customer as well, at least if you are traveling with German flag carrier Lufthansa that still operates the Queen of the Skies on several regularly scheduled services.Now that the final Queen has left the building in Everett, we thought it would be a good time to revisit her trajectory over the years, including what happened to the units after leaving their initial passenger carrier fleets. This is the story of the Boeing 747s that once wore the livery of American Airlines.

The last American Airlines 747 left the fleet nearly 30 years ago

COVID-19 most definitely sped up the exit of the quadjet iconic plane from fleets across the world, with long-time operators Qantas, KLM and British Airways waving goodbye to their jumbojets in 2020. Meanwhile, the world's largest airline released its final Boeing 747 from service many years before the outbreak of the pandemic.

American Airlines received its first 747, a 747-100, in February 1970. The unit, registered as N740PA, was leased from launch customer Pan Am, which had itself taken delivery of the very first jumbojet just one month prior. The airline returned the quadjet to its owner a little over a year later, in May 1971.

The second 747 operated by American was also leased from Pan Am, while its first own jumbojet was delivered in July 1970. American then went one to become a relatively big operator of the iconic aircraft, flying 21 aircraft over a span of 24 years. However, none have been operated under the AA brand since 1994. What happened to these beautiful birds?

The Queen’s early exit from the US market

The iconic Queen of the Skies was once a common sight in airports worldwide, including in the US. But, on January 3rd, 2018, the very last passenger 747, operated by Delta Air Lines, touched down in the Arizona desert, ending almost 50 years of service with numerous American carriers.

The very first Boeing 747-100 was delivered to Pan Am in January 1970. Over that year, a number of other airlines joined the 747 parade, including TWA, Lufthansa, and Northwest Airlines.

By December 1994, just 24 years after American had received its first of the type, the last Boeing 747 had left its fleet. Over the years, American Airlines had operated a total of 21 of the type, 18 of which were the 747-100, one 747-200, and two 747SP that joined the fleet for a short while in the mid-80s. Let’s take a look at where they went.

The first arrivals

The first 747-100s to join the fleet not leased from Pan Am mostly had a long life with AA. The first, N9663, was returned to the lessor in February 1984, having flown for American for 14 years. It had a brief stint with National Airlines in ’84 to ’85 but was taken on by Cargolux in late 1986. It flew for Air Afrique, Caribbean Airways, and AA rival United Airlines for some years before being withdrawn from use in 1999.

Other early deliveries had similar outcomes, operating for airlines including Avianca, Qantas, Virgin Atlantic, and Dominicana before retirement. Several were converted to cargo and went on to have long lives as load shifters, a couple only withdrawn from use as recently as 2006.

It is notable, however, how quickly AA was falling out of love with the 747. The models delivered in 1970 through to around ’75 and ’76 all served for between 10 and 15 years at the airline. However, those arriving in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s had much shorter lifespans, with some just in the fleet for a handful of years. For instance, N9666 arrived in May 1980 but was sent packing as early as June 1984.

We should mention the one 747-200 that AA once flew. N749WA was actually a World Airways aircraft, and was only with AA for around five months, serving one summer season in 1984. That was the year of the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, so it’s likely it was just leased as a capacity boost for that period.

Also worth mentioning are the two baby 747SPs that were used from 1986 for around eight years. Both were ex-TWA 747s especially configured to cater to business passengers with 29 first-class sleeper seats, 78 business class seats, 78 economy seats and two stand-up bars. They were specifically used on American’s route from Dallas (DFW) to Tokyo (NRT), and American inaugurated the "International Flagship Service" on May 21, 1987.

When the MD-11s proved to be a better fit on the route, American sold the SPs. One went to Kazakhstan Airlines, while the other was converted to a VIP layout for Dubai Royal Flight, where it stayed until it was withdrawn in 2004.

Stars of the show

There are a couple of Boeing 747s that had a home with American Airlines and went on to do some pretty cool stuff.

The first is N9668, which was one of the first to join AA’s fleet in 1970. It was sold to NASA in July 1974, where it underwent heavy conversion to become part of a very special project. It became the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), used to ferry space shuttle orbiters from landing sites back to the launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center.

Re-registered as N905NA and known as NASA 905, it flew 70 of the 87 ferry missions during the shuttle program's operational phase. It was used by NASA to undertake some intensive studies into wake turbulence also. By its retirement in late 2012, it had flown 11,018 flight hours over 42 years, both as a commercial jetliner and as a NASA space shuttle carrier, and had made 6,335 takeoffs and landings. It is now on display at the Space Center Houston visitor center.

The other star in the fleet was an aircraft that spent a little time as a movie icon. N9675 was temporarily leased to Universal Studios, where it was stripped of its livery and became “Columbia 409,” a fictitious flight doomed to disaster in the film “Airport 1975”.

Shot at Salt Lake, the aircraft appeared in a few scenes of the movie, including landing shots and emergency slide evacuations. At one point, Charlton Heston took the controls of the jumbo for a scene, an experience not many old aircraft can attest to.

Airport 1975 by George Akimoto
N9675 had a brief spell on the silver screen. Image: Theo's Little Bot via Wikimedia

Sadly for the aircraft, it had a less glamorous end to its life, working as a converted ‘American Freighter’ for several years with UPS before being retired to the desert in 2005. She was reportedly broken up in 2011.

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Did you ever fly on one of American Airlines’ Boeing 747s? Let us know about your memories in the comments.

  • American Airlines Tile
    American Airlines
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    AA/AAL
    Airline Type:
    Full Service Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Miami International Airport, New York JFK Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
    Year Founded:
    1926
    Alliance:
    oneworld
    CEO:
    Robert Isom
    Country:
    United States
    Airline Group:
    American Airlines Group
    Region:
    North America
    Loyalty Program:
    AAdvantage