Thai Airways bids farewell to iconic Boeing 747 ‘Queen of the Skies’

[snoop1130]

 

 

Thai Airways has officially said goodbye to the iconic Boeing 747, also known as the 'Queen of the Skies.' This decision comes on the back of Air India retiring its last four Boeing 747-400s. The Thai airline held a grand farewell ceremony for the much-loved aircraft.

 

A photograph from the retirement ceremony showing the engineless Boeing 747-400 surrounded by tables and chairs was shared on Tuesday, marking the end of an era.

 

The plan was to retire the aircraft by the end of 2024. However, the Covid-19 pandemic caused a change of plans. Thai Airways put all its Boeing 747s into storage in March 2020, with the last one joining in December 2020 at the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.

 

As the aviation industry begins its recovery from the pandemic, Thai Airways decided it no longer needed the Boeing 747. The legendary aircraft was not the only one to retire; the airline also retired its six Airbus A380s.

 

Despite Thai Airways closing this chapter, Lufthansa still operates the biggest fleet of Boeing 747-400s, according to Aerotime Hub. Airlines like Atlas Air, Air Atlanta Europe, and Air China also continue to use the Boeing 747-400.

 

In other news, Thai Airways has decided to avoid the Middle East for its flights to Europe due to the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. Thai Airways President Chai Eamsiri confirmed that the airline had slightly adjusted some flight routes to avoid the airspace over the Middle East. He also added that there were no immediate risks to Thai nationals in Iran and Israel.

 

Picture: :Thai Airways International Boeing 747-400. Creative Common License via Google

 

-- 2024-04-25

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[JoePai]

So Asean Now thinks that photo is a Boeing 747-400   

[VocalNeal]

4 minutes ago, JoePai said:

So Asean Now thinks that photo is a Boeing 747-400   

 

No, the new AI does.🙄

[VocalNeal]

 

See how easy that was.

Edited April 25 by VocalNeal

[GinBoy2]

Apart from the stupid picture of the wrong aircraft, I love the fact that they stored them in Suvarnabhumi.

 

Retired aircraft still have value, and there is a reason airlines pay to store them in the dry deserts of California, Spain and Australia.

 

Corrosion, one of the reasons the A340-500's stored at Don Mueang were totally worthless was they were corroded to cr**p in a hot humid environment.

 

That might not be fair since the A340-500's were never going to parted out since the planes themselves were worthless, but you get the gist

[cleopatra2]

This supposedly news article is riddled with inconsistencies.

The article states that a photo of the retirement ceremonary was provided. However the photo used is totally different

 

The article states all the aircraft was put in storage in march , with last one in December. 

 

The article claims Thai Airways President stated that there was no immediate risk  to Thai nationals in Israel or Iran. This is factually wrong .it was the Foreign ministry who made this statement.

 

This is not news but a bastardisation of an article that appears in the Thaiger

 

[Georgealbert]

Thai Airways posted this photo, on 23 April, from the retirement ceremony with tables and chairs gathered around the engineless Boeing 747-400 inside a hangar.

[Georgealbert]

Thai Airways have also announced their have already sold all six of its A380 planes, that it purchased in 2004 and which the company put up for sale in August 2023. The original purchase price in 2004, ranged from 445 to 500 million US dollars each.

It was not declared who the buyers are and what selling price was achieved.

 

 

[dinsdale]

5 hours ago, JoePai said:

So Asean Now thinks that photo is a Boeing 747-400   

So what is it then pardon my ignorance. Pic from this thread and pic of a 747-400.

 

 

Apart from this a great plane. The 777 will always be my favourite though. 

 

 

Edited April 25 by dinsdale

[treetops]

20 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

So what is it then pardon my ignorance. Pic from this thread and pic of a 747-400.

 

When the thread was first posted the article had a different picture.

[dinsdale]

2 minutes ago, treetops said:

 

When the thread was first posted the article had a different picture.

Cheers. So I guess they only noticed their incompetence once it was pointed out to them. It just a full on amateur show from these clowns. I still think the best one yet was the pic of the Indonesean sub that was sadly lost with all hands when the article was about the Chinese sub purchase. 

[cleopatra2]

30 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Cheers. So I guess they only noticed their incompetence once it was pointed out to them. It just a full on amateur show from these clowns. I still think the best one yet was the pic of the Indonesean sub that was sadly lost with all hands when the article was about the Chinese sub purchase. 

Yes.

However they have still not corrected the factual mistake that it was the Foreign ministry who stated there was no risk to Thai nationals in Israel or Iran.Not the Thai Airways President.

[dinsdale]

6 minutes ago, cleopatra2 said:

Yes.

However they have still not corrected the factual mistake that it was the Foreign ministry who stated there was no risk to Thai nationals in Israel or Iran.Not the Thai Airways President.

It seems that there is no such thing as fact checking and/or editing when it comes to pumping out AI generated articles. At least there sure doesn't seem to be. IMHO if these people call themselves journalists they have no right to do so.

[proton]

31 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

It seems that there is no such thing as fact checking and/or editing when it comes to pumping out AI generated articles. At least there sure doesn't seem to be. IMHO if these people call themselves journalists they have no right to do so.

 

Probably more rubbish from the kiddies at the Thaiger 😁

[cleopatra2]

9 minutes ago, proton said:

 

Probably more rubbish from the kiddies at the Thaiger 😁

I believe that the Thaiger is the source for this article.

However the Thaiger report is 100% better , provides the correct photograph, explains why the last plane is stored in December, does correctly attribute the ministry of foreign affairs with the statement " no immediate risk to Thai Citizens ...."

[dinsdale]

29 minutes ago, cleopatra2 said:

I believe that the Thaiger is the source for this article.

However the Thaiger report is 100% better , provides the correct photograph, explains why the last plane is stored in December, does correctly attribute the ministry of foreign affairs with the statement " no immediate risk to Thai Citizens ...."

Might be 100% better but I'll bet it's still ChatGPT generated as this article is.

[Mr Meeseeks]

5 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Thai Airways have also announced their have already sold all six of its A380 planes, that it purchased in 2004 and which the company put up for sale in August 2023. The original purchase price in 2004, ranged from 445 to 500 million US dollars each.

It was not declared who the buyers are and what selling price was achieved.

 

 

 

They are still on the apron at Suvarnabhumi as of last Friday.

 

I have been informed that the sale has been ordered to be stopped by a court as TG still owe money due to their insolvency.

[soi3eddie]

8 hours ago, JoePai said:

So Asean Now thinks that photo is a Boeing 747-400   

The nerve reading accurate news reporting has been struck! The picture got changed after your comment LOL. It is now, indeed, the correct plane a B747.

Edited April 25 by soi3eddie

[soi3eddie]

6 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Thai Airways posted this photo, on 23 April, from the retirement ceremony with tables and chairs gathered around the engineless Boeing 747-400 inside a hangar.

 

They could have at least given their previous flagship a wash and polish to erase the water stains of grime below the windows. So sad to see the queen of the skies end up like this.

 

[soi3eddie]

5 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

They are still on the apron at Suvarnabhumi as of last Friday.

 

I flew out of BKK last Tuesday lunchtime and saw all the "scrap" Thai Airways planes on the left apron when heading to the terminal. A real pile of junk that they couldn't sell been abandoned or being broken up in place. 

 

[cleopatra2]

33 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Might be 100% better but I'll bet it's still ChatGPT generated as this article is.

True

The question for me is

If The Thaiger now owns this site , why rewrite an article that already exists on Thaiger.

[josephbloggs]

40 minutes ago, cleopatra2 said:

True

The question for me is

If The Thaiger now owns this site , why rewrite an article that already exists on Thaiger.

RIP AN.

[GinBoy2]

1 hour ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

They are still on the apron at Suvarnabhumi as of last Friday.

 

I have been informed that the sale has been ordered to be stopped by a court as TG still owe money due to their insolvency.

I love use of the word 'apron' it's a blast from the past

 

Today we use the word 'ramp' pretty universally across the world, but apron still sounds good.

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

Still remember the face of the bastard Thai purser that refused to serve me more alcohol in the first class cabin of the 747 on a flight from Bali to Bangkok around 10 years ago.

[kiwikeith]

10 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Thai Airways have also announced their have already sold all six of its A380 planes, that it purchased in 2004 and which the company put up for sale in August 2023. The original purchase price in 2004, ranged from 445 to 500 million US dollars each.

It was not declared who the buyers are and what selling price was achieved.

 

 

Donald Trump might know 

[Georgealbert]

6 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

They are still on the apron at Suvarnabhumi as of last Friday.

 

I have been informed that the sale has been ordered to be stopped by a court as TG still owe money due to their insolvency.

The picture showing them sold, is from Thai Airways and the story is reported on aviation sites, this week.

 

https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/139499-thai-airways-says-its-a380s-are-sold

 

An auction was held on September 12, 2023, for the six that have been retired, four of them are stored at Suvarnabhumi Airport and the other two in U-Tapao Airport.

 

The aircraft with registrations HS-TUA, HS-TUB, HS-TUC, HUB-TUE, and HS-TUF were stored between the period of March and April 2020.

 

https://travelradar.aero/what-actually-occurred-with-the-a380-aircraft-of-thai-airways/#
 

Is there any link to the story of the court action preventing the sell? There was a rumour in 2022 that “the airline is closely examining the cost-effectiveness of recovering the aircraft, but has not yet made a decision”, but that never happened and it was the airline that posted news of the sell.

 

https://domesticflightsthailand.com/news/thai-airways-may-restore-shelved-airbus-a380s

Edited April 25 by Georgealbert

[Georgealbert]

6 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

 

They could have at least given their previous flagship a wash and polish to erase the water stains of grime below the windows. So sad to see the queen of the skies end up like this.

 

Think the plane is justing showing it’s age.

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thai Airways has officially said goodbye to the iconic Boeing 747, also known as the 'Queen of the Skies.

One of the most iconic aircraft that came out of Boeing, shame the accountants took over.

[new2here]

I remember standing on the outdoor observation deck at NRT and watching all the 747s.. many -200 at that time and some -400s.. it literally was a “heavy heaven” .. not only passenger but cargo.. from Flying Tigers to the oldest -100 from UPS, stand up there long enough and you’d see them all in NRT. 

[gravity101]

15 hours ago, JoePai said:

So Asean Now thinks that photo is a Boeing 747-400   

And Thaiger thinks its A380 article today deserves a picture of a 747. Couldn't make it up.