The end of an era

British Airways reached an “emotional milestone” last month, retiring its two remaining Heathrow-based Boeing 747 aircraft

- ​GEMMA GREENWOOD

We all remember our first time on a Boeing 747, which until it was superseded by the A380 double decker in 2007, was the largest commercial passenger aircraft and ‘the’ long-haul travel workhorse of the skies.

My first flight on the so-called ‘Jumbo Jet’ was in 1985, travelling on Pan Am from London Heathrow to New York’s JFK. It was our first family holiday to the US and I think I found the experience both petrifying and exhilarating in equal measures. But the 747 soon became my favourite aircraft – big, powerful, but at the same time, graceful. I will never forget the roar and surge of the engines on take-off – something you don’t experience on the sometimes eerily quiet new-generation aircraft.