The end of the four-engined widebody era got a little closer today, when the world’s oldest 747 in service, operated by of KLM, completed its last flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS). The flight took off from LAX at 13:55 PST yesterday and landed at AMS 9:05 this morning.
The 747-400 aircraft (PH-BFB), was baptized as “City of Bangkok” by nine Thai monks on July 1st, 1989, in a ceremony at AMS that was attended by more than 200 people. The 747 was in service for 29 years and clocked more than 134,000 flight hours and 36,000 take-offs and landings.
After today, KLM will have eleven 747-400s in its passenger fleet, all to be replaced by the 777s and 787s by 2021.