All Nippon Airways will retire its last two passenger-carrying Boeing 747s next month, ending an era in which the American-made jumbo jet was a frequent presence in Japanese skies, working both the international and domestic routes of ANA and Japan Airlines.
In the 1970s, ANA and JAL were early purchasers of the revolutionary airplane, and they remained loyal to it and to Boeing, which even produced a special high-density, 560-seat, short-haul version of the 747 just for them.
Changes in technology and in travel behavior and a demand for more flights on smaller planes, however, have caused a global shift. For JAL, that has ended 50 years of loyalty to Boeing products.
In the 1980s, Japan Airlines owned 65 Boeing 747 Classics, as the early models are called — more than any other airline. It retired the last one in 2009 and its more modern 747-400s went out of service in 2011. ANA’s last passenger-carrying 747 will land for good on March 31.
I thought it was a wonderful aircraft. There is no comparison,” ANA’s chief executive officer, Osamu Shinobe, said of the 747 late last year.
Employees of All Nippon Airways saluted the Boeing 747 at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
(Photo ANA)
Emotions, however, are no match for economics when it comes to a four-engine airplane and jet fuel that costs $123 a barrel. Along with the two Japanese carriers, Cathay Pacific and Singapore have also eliminated the 747 from their fleets, and Air India, Air New Zealand and Taiwan’s EVA Air are planning to do the same.
“The 747 is plummeting out of service far faster than anyone would have expected,” said Richard Aboulafia, an airline analyst at Teal Group in Fairfax, Va.
The 747 is not the only plane affected by the market shift. The Airbus A380 is much newer than the 747, entering commercial service in 2005. But since the European plane maker began turning out its four-engine double-decker superjumbo, it has sold only 304. Half of those have been ordered by just one airline, Emirates, based in Dubai, which has taken possession of only 40 so far.
“Qantas just deferred a few, Lufthansa has canceled, Air France is public they don’t want more, British Airways doesn’t want anymore,” Mr. Aboulafia said. “The market has said, ‘These are our requirements, we want to buy two-engine wide bodies; quads, not so much.”
Airlines are opting for smaller and far more fuel-efficient two-engine airplanes like the Boeing 777, which carries 315 to 550 passengers, and the even smaller 787 Dreamliner, which carries fewer than 300. In a decision that surprised many in the industry last year, JAL purchased an airliner from Airbus for the first time, ordering 31 A350s. The twin-engine, 300-to-350-seat plane is a direct competitor to Boeing’s Dreamliner.
It was widely reported that the defection was due to JAL’s frustration with the problems it was having with the 787. JAL operates 13 Dreamliners and ANA has 23. Last year the entire 787 fleet was grounded for nearly four months because of safety concerns about the planes’ lithium-ion batteries. It was a costly interruption for Boeing customers.
Jian Yang, a spokesman for JAL, said the decision to do business with Airbus was based on many factors including “safety, quality” and manufacturer support.
“We were disappointed,” said Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s vice president for marketing, commenting on the airline’s decision. “We’ve built a strong relationship with JAL over the last 50 years, and we’ll continue a strong partnership going forward.”
Boeing has had little success selling even its newest 747 for passenger service, though ANA Cargo was one of three airlines that bought the 747-8 freighter. The passenger version, dubbed the Intercontinental, has been sold to just two carriers, Korean and Lufthansa.
Nico Buchholz, Lufthansa’s senior vice president for fleet management, praised the Intercontinental’s many revisions, including increased length and cargo capacity and improvements in engine efficiency.
“It has a new wing. It has the most modern engine of any four-engine aircraft worldwide. There is a lot of new technology,” Mr. Buchholz said.
Yet, for nearly a year after ordering the D747-8, Lufthansa was the plane’s only customer.
“Boeing builds brilliant aircraft, but when you build brilliant aircraft you still need to push them into the market,” he said: “They are all not purchased by themselves.”
Many airline executives, however, say market changes are to blame for the slow sales. They say the mammoth airliner is history — and ANA’s Mr. Shinobe is one of them. When he first saw the 747 in 1979, he said, the Japanese air travel market was booming and the jumbo’s 500-plus seats, in domestic configuration, far outmatched the next biggest airplane, the 320-seat Lockheed L-1011.
Now, he says, the airline does not need that capacity: “Domestic will not grow so much anymore.”
Airlines are investing in medium-size, twin-engine, twin-aisle airliners that fly fewer people on a more frequent schedule; they believe those factors are the key to profitability.
“We believe in frequency,” said Tom Owen, Cathay Pacific’s senior vice president for the Americas. Five flights a day between Hong Kong and New York, using smaller planes, is preferable, he said, to one or two superjumbos daily.
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