The 747 Farewell Flight: Foreward

It was foretold and its time was approaching - Singapore Airlines (SIA) would finally be phasing out the B747-400s from its main fleet with its last commercial flight to Melbourne and back on 24 and 25 March respectively. For me, that hit a soft spot because I used to frequently fly on their B747s during my childhood days. The B747 was, and still is my favourite plane. It is a majestic and handsome plane, serving over 40 years with SIA and with a long history and milestones for its time. 'Jumbo' or 'Queen of the Skies' as it was dubbed, were common nicknames for the B747. That was soon going to be a thing of the past (as of now, SIA has no future plans to acquire the B747-8).

SIA B747-400 'Megatop' (9V-SMA), circa 1993

With the Singapore Airshow around, I had heard that SIA would be displaying one of their remaining B747s (9V-SPQ) at the Changi Exhibition Centre, complete with a tour and limited edition boarding passes. I took the chance to acquire some trade passes for a chance to catch sight of the Jumbo in all its glory. I headed down with my colleague on the first trade day of the airshow but alas, the plane was only scheduled to come in on the last trade day and the tours would only commence on the two days it was open to the public. Dang! Nevertheless, I told myself I'd make an effort to come down again and in the meantime, enjoyed whatever was already at the airshow. 

Come Saturday, the first public day, I caught a serious flu and fever and all my plans went down the drain. I was drained from just ending my night shift, and I was in a condition no better than shit. I headed home and knocked myself out for some very needed rest and recuperation. 

Clockwise from top left: 'A Great Way to Fly' car decal, 'Big Top' fan, cute B747 sticker, and a stack of historical B747 postcards

It was a nice touch, giving out all these memorabilia and I soon found myself looking for online posts hoping to catch a glimpse or idea of what the tours were actually like. I noticed the binding strap for the postcards had a link (http://www.siajourneys.com/) which paid tribute to the B747 which I checked out and to my delightful surprise, found something that immediately struck a chord: SIA would be holding two B747 commemorative flights on 06 April as a sort of farewell flight. What went through my head then was almost instantaneous; I soon bought my pair of tickets - SIN-HKG-SIN, Economy. 

Those of you interested, there are still tickets left (at this point of time) on the return leg of the commemorative flight (SQ748, HKG-SIN). Also, the details of the flight and all are in the link I provided above - do check it out, as well as the nice tribute page! As for me, this more than makes up for missing the airshow tours. 06 April will definitely be a day be filled with nostalgia and reminiscing. 

On my way to work one day, I happened to catch sight of this:

SIA B747-400 (9V-SPQ), circa 2012

I took the shot for memory sake, boarded my transport and sighed as we drove off. You will be missed.