Editing Boeing 747 (section)

== Operational history ==
After the aircraft's introduction with Pan Am in 1970, other airlines that had bought the 747 to stay competitive began to put their own 747s into service.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080127015922/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878679-1,00.html "Ready or Not, Here Comes Jumbo"]. ''Time'', January 19, 1970. Retrieved: December 19, 2007.</ref> Boeing estimated that half of the early 747 sales were to airlines desiring the aircraft's long range rather than its payload capacity.<ref>Smith, Bruce A. "Boeing Shuns Very Large Jets While Aiming for Longer Range." ''Aviation Week and Space Technology'', January 1, 2001, pp. 28–29.</ref><ref>[http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~mason/Mason_f/A380Buescher.pdf 747X vs A380 "How to Reduce Congestion"] (PDF). {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216064540/http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~mason/Mason_f/A380Buescher.pdf|date=February 16, 2008}} ''Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering'', Virginia Tech. Retrieved: December 10, 2007.</ref> While the 747 had the lowest potential operating cost per seat, this could only be achieved when the aircraft was fully loaded; costs per seat increased rapidly as occupancy declined. A moderately loaded 747, one with only 70 percent of its seats occupied, used more than 95 percent of the fuel needed by a fully occupied 747.<ref>[http://www2.mst.dk/common/Udgivramme/Frame.asp?pg=http://www2.mst.dk/udgiv/Publications/2003/87-7972-489-2/html/kap09_eng.htm "Airline reporting on fuel consumption."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220020946/http://www2.mst.dk/common/Udgivramme/Frame.asp?pg=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.mst.dk%2Fudgiv%2FPublications%2F2003%2F87-7972-489-2%2Fhtml%2Fkap09_eng.htm|date=December 20, 2007}} ''Miljominsteriet (Danish Environmental Protection Agency)''. Retrieved: December 13, 2007.</ref> Nonetheless, many flag-carriers purchased the 747 due to its prestige "even if it made no sense economically" to operate. During the 1970s and 1980s, over 30 regularly scheduled 747s could often be seen at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 4, 2013 |title=Boeing 747 On Deathwatch: How Boeing's New 777X Will Kill Its Jumbo Jet Predecessor, Once The Queen Of The Skies |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/boeing-747-deathwatch-how-boeings-new-777x-will-kill-its-jumbo-jet-predecessor-once-queen-skies |website=[[International Business Times]]}}</ref>

The [[recession of 1969–1970]], despite having been characterized as relatively mild, greatly affected Boeing. For the year and a half after September 1970, it only sold two 747s in the world, both to Irish flag carrier [[Aer Lingus]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Supplementary Estimates, 1971–72 – Vote 41: Transport and Power |date=November 25, 1971 |url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1971112500009?opendocument |volume=257 |issue=3 |page=9 |publisher=Houses of the Oireachtas |quote=The company took delivery of two Boeing 747s (Jumbos) in March 1971, and they went into service in April and May. The Aerlínte fleet now consists of 6 Boeing 707-320s and 2 Boeing 747s.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 25, 1971 |title=Aer Lingus On Its Own |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1971/1971%20-%200442.html |journal=[[Flight International]] |quote=A SECOND 747 will be delivered to Aer Lingus-Irish within the next two weeks to join the first which arrived in Dublin on March 6.}}</ref>
No 747s were sold to any American carrier for almost three years.{{r|heppenheimer1998}} When economic problems in the US and other countries after the [[1973 oil crisis]] led to reduced passenger traffic, several airlines found they did not have enough passengers to fly the 747 economically, and they replaced them with the smaller and recently introduced [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10]] and [[Lockheed L-1011 TriStar]] [[trijet]] wide bodies<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070202010508/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876705,00.html "Planes for Rough Weather"]. ''Time'', August 3, 1970. Retrieved: December 20, 2007.</ref> (and later the [[Boeing 767|767]] and [[Airbus A300]]/[[Airbus A310|A310]] [[twinjet]]s). Having tried replacing coach seats on its 747s with piano bars in an attempt to attract more customers, American Airlines eventually relegated its 747s to cargo service and in 1983 exchanged them with Pan Am for smaller aircraft;<ref>[https://archive.today/20120526202629/http://www.aa.com/i18n/amrcorp/corporateInformation/facts/history.jsp "American Airlines History"]. ''American Airlines''. Retrieved: June 3, 2011.</ref> [[Delta Air Lines]] also removed its 747s from service after several years.<ref>Davies 1990, p. 96.</ref> Later, Delta acquired 747s again in 2008 as part of its merger with [[Northwest Airlines]], although it retired the [[Boeing 747-400]] fleet in December 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Final 747 flight now scheduled for Monday |url=https://news.delta.com/final-747-flight-now-scheduled-monday |access-date=May 10, 2018 |website=Delta News Hub |language=en}}</ref>

International flights bypassing traditional hub airports and landing at smaller cities became more common throughout the 1980s, thus eroding the 747's original market.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040211224743/http://www.boeing.com/news/speeches/2003/piasecki_030324.html "Turning Today's Challenges into Opportunities for Tomorrow"]. ''The Boeing Company''. Retrieved: December 10, 2007.</ref> Many international carriers continued to use the 747 on [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] routes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aboulafia |first=Richard |date=March 1, 2004 |title=Commercial Transport Market Still in Rough Shape |url=http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news/2004sb05.xml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112160220/http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news%2F2004sb05.xml |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |access-date=December 10, 2007 |website=Aviation Week and Space Technology}}</ref> In Japan, 747s on domestic routes were configured to carry nearly the maximum passenger capacity.<ref>Wallace, James. [http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/A380-buyer-keeps-mum-about-possible-luxuries-1164814.php "A380 buyer keeps mum about possible luxuries aboard cruise ship of the skies"]. ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', January 24, 2005. Retrieved: June 3, 2011.</ref>