US Airlines No Longer Operate the Boeing 747 (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Wednesday, Delta Airlines flight 9771 flew from Atlanta to Pinal Airpark in Arizona. It wasn't a full flight -- just 48 people on board. But it was a milestone -- and not just for the two people who got married mid-flight -- for it marked the very last flight of a Boeing 747 being operated by a U.S. airline. Delta's last scheduled passenger service with the jumbo was actually late in December, at which point it conducted a farewell tour and then some charter flights. But as of today, after 51 long years in service, if you want to ride a 747 you'll need to be traveling abroad.Ars Technica recalls the history of the Boeing 747 in its report, mentioning that although no U.S. passenger carriers still operate the big bird, several hundred remain in service with other airlines around the world.

Comments

Re:747 not the Only One

[Strider-]

I think they're still flying some in revenue service in Canada, in the high arctic, along with 737-200s. Both of these are among the only midsized western (aka not soviet) jets suitable for operating off the gravel runways you find in places like Resolute Bay and Cambridge Bay. Similar for servicing the diamond mines and so forth.

In the case of the 727s, the engines are up high enough that they won't suck in the gravel. They also have the advantage of the integrated air stair (DB Cooper Special), so they can board and deplane without outside assistance.

The 737-200s are the ones with the skinny engines, and can be fitted with a gravel kit that includes a ski for the front wheel to deflect spraying gravel away from the aircraft, and bleed air devices which replace the cowlings on the engine to direct some of the bleed air forwards and break up vortices that would otherwise cause the engines to vacuum up the runway.

As these aircraft age out, it's going to become harder and harder to service the north; the solution will be to return back to turboprops, but none of them have the cargo or passenger capacity of a 737, except for the (civilian) Hercs, and those are old and aging out as well.