Air India on Monday waved goodbye to its last remaining Boeing 747 as it flew off from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 10:47 AM. The airline shared a video of the plane taking off as the pilot performed a Wing Wave, a gesture made in the sky when an aircraft reaches retirement age. Sharing the video, Air India wrote, "Today, we wave goodbye to the first of our last 'Queen of the Skies', the B747, departing Mumbai. Thank you for an era of majestic flights. We’ll miss your iconic presence." Watch the viral video here: The video triggered a sense of nostalgia among social media users, who shared their reactions to the video. A user wrote, "My first ever flight to west from Delhi was in B747 of Air India. Sweet memories. Bye bye." Another user commented, "Rare nd emotional moments. Good bye Champ after serving long long time . Heartfelt Alvida to Queen of skies from #Airindians." "Always wanted to fly in 747 Jumbo. Still waiting for a chance," the third user reacted. Sisira Kanta Dash, chief technical officer of Air India, shared a series of photos of the Boeing 747 on X and wrote, “The queen VT-EVA , Boeing 747-400, new Reg N940AS leaving BOM-PAE. Lot of efforts many meetings. Many people working behind the scene to make this happen .Thank you all.” See here: All about Air India's Boeing 747 Named Agra, Air India got its first Boeing 747 in 1971 and took its last commercial flight in March 2021 on a domestic route. The aircraft had 423 seats, including 12 First Class, 26 Business Class and 385 Economy Class seats. The first 747 entered service on launch customer Pan Am Airlines’ New York-London route on January 21, 1970.
