I ❤ 747

Des tina tion

We’ve unofficially decided that our Ampersand section also functions as an In Memoriam to all the GOATS, and here’s a doozy: The last Boeing 747 has left the factory. With its distinctive “hump,” the plane, nicknamed “Queen of the Skies,” is perhaps the most widely recognized commercial airline ever built. Since making its debut more than half a century ago, the workhorse has carried passengers and cargo around the world, transforming air travel and becoming a symbol of American ingenuity. As reported in The New York Times, the 747 is composed of about six million parts produced around the globe, with final assemblage in Everett, Washington, home of Boeing. The factory has been used to make newer model planes, of course, but remained home to the 747 down to this, the final number 1,574. Please observe a moment of #attentionmustbepaid silence before we go on with our tribute.

Boeing began designing the airplane in the mid-1960s at the request of now extinct Pan-American Airways, which filed for bankruptcy in 1991. When the 747 took its maiden flight in 1970, it became an instant sensation. Much larger than any other plane, it comfortably fit hundreds of people in rows with up to 10 seats across. Fun fact! –it was named “Clipper Young American,” by then American First Lady Pat Nixon. Much has been written about Pan Am in its glory days, with its well-educated stewardesses in beyond chic uniforms, first class in-flight “lounges,” and caviar and china dinner services. Young women clamored for jobs with the airline. Funnily enough, Pan Am’s founder, Juan Trippe, had to be convinced that the plane would be appealing. Legend has it that he had been pushing Boeing to come up with a double-decker version of the single-aisle Boeing 707. But Trippe was eventually sold on the design, which featured almost vertical sidewalls and high ceilings that gave passengers a feeling of space and openness—a shape that has defined long-haul travel for nearly fifty years.

Pan Am purchased a total of 65 Boeing 747 models during its tenure and some airlines, including Lufthansa, Korean Air and Air China, continue to use the plane for passenger flights. But, according to The Times, the plane has increasingly fallen out of favor and is likely to end its life carrying cargo. The last few produced were all 747-8 freighters for Atlas Air, which operates the largest 747 fleet in the world and leases out airplanes and crews for cargo or passenger operations. The final 747 will be chartered by an Atlas customer, Kuehne+Nagel, one of the world’s largest transport companies, for use by its subsidiary, Apex Logistics. For Atlas, the 747 remains an ideal choice because of its reliability and capacity to fly huge amounts of goods between cargo hubs, said John

Dietrich, the company’s president and chief executive. And at least one early decision in the plane’s design continues to pay off. “That nose-loading capability is going to serve the market well for decades to come,” he said. Since this is our #magnumopus issue, let’s wrap on a #magiccarpetride note, shall we? Say what you will about the current state of air travel, but there was nothing sexier, nothing more sophisticated, than hopping a flight in the Golden Age of the 747. “Flight 001 to Constantinople! Now boarding!” ready to whisk you away to exotic foreign lands. Can’t you just see it now? Farewell, big bird, you took us to the edges of our wildest dreams…

Kind•lier™ textiles are crafted using only non-GMO, 100% Virgin Cotton that is manufactured and supplied with ESG Principles of Sustainability in mind.