#boeingpilot

Boeing 737-9 MAX Alaska Airlines

Registration: N913AK Type: 737-9 Engines: 2 × CFMI LEAP-1B Serial Number: 44079 First flight: Jun 26, 2019

Alaska Airlines — one of the major U.S. air carriers — has placed its bet on the Boeing 737 MAX series, with deliveries beginning in January 2021. As of today, the airline operates 94 aircraft of this series in both currently available variants: the MAX 8 and MAX 9, each serving its own role within the route network.

However, Alaska Airlines' relationship with the 737 MAX was overshadowed by a serious incident. On January 5, 2024, a door plug blew out mid-flight on board Flight 1282, at an altitude of approximately 5,000 meters. The aircraft made an emergency return to Portland; none of the 177 people on board were injured. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause was four bolts that had not been installed during factory assembly. Responsibility was shared between Boeing, supplier Spirit AeroSystems, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Boeing paid the airline approximately $160 million in compensation.

Despite the incident, Alaska Airlines did not abandon the MAX series. In 2025, the airline signed the largest order in its history: 105 of the latest 737-10 aircraft, which are currently in the testing phase. In total, the order book stands at 174 aircraft from the 737 MAX family.

There has also been a thaw on the regulatory side: in October 2025, the FAA authorized Boeing to increase monthly production of the 737 MAX from 38 to 42 aircraft, confirming the manufacturer's progress in addressing identified deficiencies. Alaska Airlines, for its part, continues to invest in fleet modernization. The airline is putting $130 million into upgrading its existing 737-800s, bringing their interiors in line with the standards of the new MAX aircraft.

The Boeing 737 MAX series has become the backbone of Alaska Airlines' fleet. Despite the challenges, the airline continues to favor these aircraft, seeing them as the future of its route network — from Alaska to Latin America.

Boeing 747-400 Delta Air Lines

Registration: N673US Type: 747-451 Engines: 4 × PW PW4056 Serial Number: 30268 First flight: Aug 13, 1999

The world has seen many airlines for which the «Jumbo» became a symbol and backbone of their long‑haul fleets. Unlike others, Delta encountered this legendary aircraft twice. When Delta received its first 747 in October 1970, the aviation world was experiencing a boom in wide‑body aircraft.

But the euphoria of owning the giant didn’t last long. Four years after launching operations, Delta realized a harsh truth: the Jumbo was too large for its route network. At that time, Delta focused on domestic U.S. routes. The enormous aircraft, designed to cross oceans, was about as suitable for Delta’s operations as an elephant in a china shop. The company was forced to replace it with the more cost‑efficient Lockheed L‑1011.

More than thirty years passed, and in 2008 an event occurred that dramatically changed the situation. Delta completed its merger with Northwest Airlines, which, unlike Delta, had been a true enthusiast of the Boeing 747. Thanks to this merger, Delta successfully established itself as a major player in the global aviation market, especially on the Pacific routes, where the Jumbos proved to be the ideal tool. Now Delta had a fleet of sixteen modern Boeing 747‑400s at its disposal. And unlike in the 1970s, the airline now had a suitable route network for these aircraft.

For ten years, the Jumbo continued to support Delta’s profits. But time is relentless, and the aging 747s began to leave the fleet. By 2017, the golden era of four‑engine aircraft had come to an end. The new generation of twin‑engine long‑haul airliners, the Airbus A350XWB, offered significantly lower operating costs with comparable range.

Despite the complex relationship between the airline and this aircraft, Delta became the last American carrier to retire the passenger Boeing 747. Thus ended the 47‑year period of operating this type across Northwest and Delta combined.

Boeing 777-200ER British Airways

Registration: G-VIIG Type: 777-236ER Engines: 2 × GE GE90-85B Serial Number: 27489 First flight: Mar 31, 1997

In March, I wrote about the Boeing 747-400 at British Airways – an aircraft that was the face of the British flag in the skies for four decades, until it left the fleet in 2020. Today's story is about its contemporary, born six years later, which continues to fly to this day. This is the Boeing 777-200.

British Airways ordered the 777-200 back in 1991, when the aircraft existed only on paper. The airline received its first aircraft, registered G-ZZZC, on 12 November 1995, and commercial service began on 17 November. This was the first Boeing 777 in history to be fitted with General Electric GE90 engines – BA became the launch operator of this powerplant. For subsequent aircraft, the airline used Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines.

The type's entry into service was not without turbulence. Due to gearbox bearing wear issues, British Airways temporarily withdrew the 777 from transatlantic routes in 1997, returning the aircraft to service only by the end of the year. Nevertheless, as early as February 1997 the airline received its first Boeing 777-200ER – the extended-range version that would go on to become the backbone of its entire widebody fleet.

This is where the key difference between the two aircraft lies. The Boeing 747-400 was a four-engine giant, designed in an era when transoceanic flights demanded the reliability margin of extra engines. The Boeing 777-200, by contrast, was built from the outset as a twin-engine aircraft relying on ETOPS certification. Upon entry into service, it was already granted ETOPS-180 approval – an unprecedented vote of confidence in twin-engine reliability for 1995.

This is precisely what shaped the diverging fates of the two aircraft. The 747-400 required more fuel and more maintenance – four engines instead of two had a tangible impact on flight economics. When the 2020 pandemic sharply accelerated decisions that airlines had already been putting off, British Airways parted ways first with its four-engine veterans: the "Jumbo's" final flight took place in June 2020.

The 777-200 came through the same period differently. It's true that British Airways retired its five pure -200 variants (without the ER designation) even earlier, in January 2020. That same G-ZZZC ended its career having flown nearly 50 million miles and carried more than 3.8 million passengers. But the 777-200ER remained in service, and to this day continues to be the workhorse of British Airways' long-haul routes – alongside the newer 777-300ER.

The reason is simple: the economics of the twin-engine long-haul aircraft proved so compelling that this very concept shaped the face of aviation for decades to come. It's no coincidence that to replace not only the 747-400 but also some 777-200, British Airways chose the next generation of the same family – the Boeing 777-9, deliveries of which are expected in 2027.

And so the paths of two models, born just six years apart, diverged in different directions: one became a symbol of a bygone era, the other proof that the twin-engine long-haul concept, laid down in the 1980s, proved remarkably resilient.

Boeing 747-400 Air France

Registration: F-GITH Type: 747-428 Engines: 4 × GE CF6-80C2B1F Serial Number: 32868 First flight: Mar 5, 2003

On March 20, 1970, Air France took delivery of its first Boeing 747-100. The aircraft was so unprecedented in scale that cameras from all French television channels followed its arrival in Paris as if it were a matter of national importance. It was their first truly mass-market tool for long-haul aviation.

On June 3, 1970, the first commercial flight was performed on the company's most prestigious route—Paris–New York. Symbolically, this is also the line where the Concorde would fly several years later: two poles of the same era, supersonic luxury for the chosen few and mass accessibility for everyone else.

If the Atlantic served as the program's showcase—the televised flight written about in the press—the real work of the "Jumbo" unfolded across a far more extensive network, one that largely inherited the contours of the French colonial and post-colonial world.

Here, an important clarification regarding the geography of the 747s at Air France is necessary. In 1963, the French government issued a directive dividing long-haul routes between Air France and the private carrier UTA (Union de Transports Aériens). For nearly 30 years, a significant part of the post-colonial world remained simply closed to Air France's "Jumbo"—those lines were served by UTA aircraft. Air France could only reclaim this geography in 1992, following its merger with UTA.

By its 50th anniversary in 1983, Air France had become the fourth largest passenger airline in the world, and the 747 was the machine without which such an operational scale would have been impossible.

The first clouds over the 747 program at Air France appeared in the 1990s when the Boeing 777 began entering the fleet, offering comparable economics with significantly lower fuel consumption. This efficiency became the main criterion of the new era of air travel. And in the 2000s, the Airbus A380 began playing its role—a super-capacity successor that Air France viewed as the natural replacement for the retiring "Jumbo."

Air France's last commercial flight on the Boeing 747 took place on January 11, 2016, on the Paris–Mexico City route. A few days later, on January 14, 2016, the company held a farewell tour of France: a special flight over the country's iconic landscapes accompanied by the Patrouille de France military aerobatic team.

Boeing 787-10 Saudia

Registration: HZ-AR32 Type: 787-10 Engines: 2 × GE GEnx-1B74/75 Serial Number: 40055 First flight: Jan 27, 2022

In 2023, Landor – now operating as Landor & Fitch – completed one of its most unusual aviation projects: the rebranding of Saudi Arabia's national carrier, Saudia. What made it unusual was not what was invented, but what was rediscovered: the agency's team, immersed in the airline's archives, concluded that the best course of action was to go back.

Landor & Fitch built the new visual identity around the principle of a "better past." Working in close collaboration with the Saudia team, the agency examined the brand's entire history, and the starting point became the 1972 livery – the same one the airline had revisited when celebrating its 75th anniversary. That livery was recognized as the purest expression of the carrier's identity and was given a new life in a reinterpreted form.

The three colors of the new brand identity – green, blue, and sand – were chosen to reflect Saudi culture and its deeply held values. The airline's emblem, featuring two crossed swords and a date palm, was reworked: the lines were softened and the image made to feel more open and welcoming. According to Landor & Fitch Executive Creative Director Ryan Frost, the aviation branding industry suffers from pervasive sameness: everyone plays it safe, and as a result, everything ends up looking alike. For Saudia, the opposite approach was proposed – not to mimic global standards, but to speak the language of its own culture.

The rebrand encompassed every passenger touchpoint: from the livery and logo to cabin interiors, lounges, uniforms, and even a signature scent. A unique sonic identity was also created for the brand, blending traditional elements of Saudi music with contemporary motifs.

In the two years following the rebrand, Saudia's brand value grew by 80%, while passenger numbers and sales increased by more than 20%. Perhaps this is the most compelling argument that authenticity outperforms universality.

Boeing 727-200 JAT Yugoslav Airlines

Registration: YU-AKI Type: 727-2H9 Engines: 3 × PW JT8D-9A Serial Number: 22393 First flight: Oct 23, 1980

In 1974, the national carrier JAT Yugoslav Airlines decided to acquire the Boeing 727-200. This model, which became the world's first commercial aircraft to be produced in numbers exceeding one thousand units, fitted perfectly into the development strategy of Yugoslav aviation: spacious enough for growing passenger traffic while remaining economical for medium-haul routes.

While the four-engine Boeing 707 had opened distant horizons of New York and Sydney to Yugoslavs, the tri-jet 727 proved ideal for medium-haul operations. The aircraft connected Belgrade with Middle Eastern cities—Beirut, Baghdad, Cairo—demonstrating the political and economic ambitions of socialist Yugoslavia. Within the Balkans, the Boeing 727 became a familiar presence at the airports of Tivat, Split, Ljubljana, and Sarajevo, serving both tourist and business flows.

By the early 1980s, JAT's fleet comprised nine Boeing 727s, making the airline one of the largest operators of this type in Europe. Yugoslav airliners operated regular flights to the United Kingdom. The aircraft also worked charter flights for Yugotours, bringing British tourists to the Adriatic coast, as Yugoslavia was the second most popular European destination after Spain in those years.

Technically, the Boeing 727 required serious infrastructure: qualified mechanics, spare parts from the United States, and specially trained pilots. JAT managed these challenges by establishing its own maintenance system and training center for flight personnel in Belgrade. However, the late 1980s brought the first signs of approaching crisis: the breakup of Yugoslavia, the ensuing wars, and the international sanctions of 1992 paralyzed the airline's operations.

By 2005, JAT had withdrawn all remaining Boeing 727s from service, concluding a three-decade era of this type. These aircraft became symbols of the "golden age" of Yugoslav aviation—a time when the country looked confidently toward the future, and its airline connected Belgrade with five continents, demonstrating the technological capabilities and political independence of socialist Yugoslavia in the bipolar world of the Cold War.

Boeing 767-300 LAN Airlines

Registration: CC-CXE Type: 767-316ER Engines: 2 × GE CF6-80C2B7F Serial Number: 35696 First flight: May 26, 2008

After receiving its first 767s in 1986, LAN continued to grow its fleet, adding new aircraft as its route network and passenger traffic expanded. The transition from the 767-200ER to the more spacious "three-hundreds" occurred gradually throughout the 1990s. It was facilitated both by the market's general shift toward larger twin-engine wide-body aircraft and LAN's specific needs to expand capacity on key routes.

The most intensive period of 767 fleet expansion came in the mid-2000s. LAN then ordered 12 Boeing 767-300s for the first time and continued to grow the fleet in subsequent years. This was a time of active expansion for the airline, when LAN was creating subsidiaries in other Latin American countries (LAN Peru, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador) and significantly expanded its international route network.

In February 2011, LAN Airlines ordered three additional 767-300ERs, bringing the total number of aircraft ordered to 33. By this point, its fleet numbered 28 Boeing 767-300ER aircraft and 11 cargo 767-300Fs.

This 2011 order became one of LAN's last major Boeing 767 orders before its merger with Brazilian TAM Airlines in 2012. At the time of the merger, LAN Airlines operated one of the largest Boeing 767 fleets among Latin American carriers. These aircraft became the backbone of the long-haul operations of the merged LATAM Airlines Group.

Boeing 747-200 Alitalia

Registration: I-DEMS Named: Monte Argentario Paint: Bulgari Aluminium watch special colours Type: 747-243B Engines: 4 × GE CF6-50E2 Serial Number: 22969 First flight: Feb 11, 1983

We’re wrapping up our brief history of «The Adventures of the Jumbo in Italy». I’ve previously told the story of the first Boeing 747‑100 that joined Alitalia’s fleet in 1970. There was also the tale of the «Chocolate Jumbo», painted in the colours of iconic chocolate candies and serving the airline from 1980 onward. So, what happened next?

In 1998, another Alitalia Jumbo donned a stylish new livery — and, most notably, sported expensive Bvlgari watches from the renowned luxury brand. This was aircraft I‑DEMS, named «Monte Argentario», which carried advertising for the Italian luxury company Bulgari, producer of high‑end goods and owner of luxury hotels. The brand name is stylised as BVLGARI, drawing on the traditional Latin alphabet where the letters «V» and «U» are equivalent in writing.

Imagine it: a hundreds‑of‑tons aircraft adorn packed with the jeweller’s logo and expensive watches displayed on its fuselage — like a dandy’s wrist! Every time this aircraft landed in New York or Tokyo, it wasn’t just a mode of transport — it was an ambassador of Italian luxury style. «Mamma mia, how beautiful!» passengers would exclaim, and in that exclamation lay the very essence of Alitalia: passion, beauty, and Italian temperament — even at 11,000 metres altitude.

Alitalia is now gone — in 2021, it was replaced by ITA Airways. Nearly all the 747s that once bore the Alitalia livery have permanently retired from service. But one old-timer still remains airworthy. This is the aircraft that once carried the name Titano, registered as I‑DEMR. Today, at the age of 45, it continues its «titanic» work with the Moldovan cargo charter company Fly Pro, now registered as ER‑BAR. And if you ever spot it in the sky, remember its glorious past.