China Airlines says goodbye to the B747-400

On 20 March, China Airlines officially retired the B747-400 from the fleet. It marked the occassion by conducting a scenic-flight to Mt. Fuji in Japan by B-18215 (33737). On board for the five hours and forty minutes flight were 375 passengers.

Over the years the airline operated nineteen passenger B747-400s. However, its relation with the B747 goes back to 1976 when China Airlines took delivery of its first two B747-100s. The airline also operated twelve B747-200(F)s and four B747SPs. The retirement of the passenger -400s is not the end of the B747 at China Airlines as it will continue to operate eighteen B747-400Fs.

Photo by Freek Blokzijl, kindly provided by AirHistory.net.