NZFF

Air New Zealand's first Boeing 747-400 will soon make one final flight to a wrecker's yard as further capacity cuts loom in the face of a continued fall in demand for global air travel.

The 19-year-old jumbo, named The Bay of Islands, was grounded and put up for sale after completing Air New Zealand's historic biofuel test flight in December.

Air New Zealand head of long-haul airline Ed Sims said negotiations were under way with two potential buyers who would probably dismantle the aircraft overseas.

A sale was expected to be concluded within the next few weeks.

Air New Zealand has slashed capacity to match the dramatic slowdown in global air traffic and further cuts are expected.

"The pending sale of the aircraft is a reflection of the current situation where we are seeing long-haul demand down 10 to 15 per cent," Mr Sims said.

Overall, capacity would be down about 9 per cent for the year.

Airlines around the world were grounding aircraft to minimise losses, Mr Sims said.

"We cannot rule out further aircraft being grounded with the global economy in its current state," he said.

Global passenger numbers fell another 3.1 per cent in April on a year earlier, the latest figures from the International Air Transport Association show.

While this was an improvement from the 11 per cent dive in March, the April figures were skewed by the timing of Easter and early indications were for another double digit decline for May in some markets, IATA said.

The grounded 747 was delivered to Air New Zealand from the Boeing factory near Seattle on December 16, 1989 and was immediately leased to Cathay Pacific for about a year.

It was the first of an eventual fleet of eight that replaced the earlier model 747-200.

Chief financial officer Rob McDonald said in February that the prospects of selling the plane were not huge in a market where more than 1000 aircraft had been parked due to the global economic crisis. That number is expected to double by the end of this year.

The aircraft had a book value of about $5 million, just a fraction of the US$250m (NZ$410m) list price for a new 747-400.

The Air New Zealand livery, including the Koru on the tail has been painted over and the 379 seats would be removed.

A dismantling company will recover and refurbish most of the aircraft's electronic and mechanical components for resale, including cockpit instruments, weather radar and hydraulic actuators that move the control surfaces on the wings and tail. Most of the body, made of various metals and plastics, would be recycled.

Air New Zealand will replace the 747 fleet with five Boeing 777-300ER long-haul jets from late next year.
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PLANE FACTS: During its 19-year career Air New Zealand's first Boeing 747-400 registration ZK-NBS:Carried 3.6 million passengers on 11,490 flights. Has flown 88,300 hours, spending more than half its life airborne. Travelled 80 million kilometres, the equivalent of about 2000 return trips from Auckland to London.

>> http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries...ads-for-wrecker

A real shame to see a fully serviceable aircraft meet this sort of demise. My arse has spent many hours in the front of this aircraft and together we have witnessed many a sunrise. The 747 is without a doubt the finest commercial aircraft ever to fly. The 777 replacing it will have it's work cutout to match it's older siblings track record.

Recent 40 Anniversary of the first 747 flight , this NBS nears the 20 , with the 800 series incoming shorty so that would be another twenty years .

Cowpatz .. " My arse has spent many hours in the front of this aircraft and together we have witnessed many a sunrise." ..... how could ya see a sunrise , bloody great nosecone ..hahah unless .. you were driving !

Quote 'The 747 is without a doubt the finest commercial aircraft ever to fly. '

I think Cowapatz is a jumbo driver

Naki wrote:

QUOTE (Naki @ May 29 2009, 02:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think Cowapatz is a jumbo driver

Yup, ANZ 747 FO

Tis a shame, I joined ANZ in 1990, in my 14 years there, tested all the engines more than once, went out and did fan trims on wing.........however, RR engines are a @#$%ard to fan trim on wing compared to the 5 747-400's that are GE powered.........
747's are still the queen of the sky's.........

That plane has a bit of history so why not keep it and turn it into a koro lounge or a hotel ,seems a big hassle to move it else where and would be good for business ..

You know, I flew on NZ2 to Los Angeles last friday night, a 747 flight, and I could barely see a spare seat in the economy section, so I don't see where the loss of demand is (perhaps it's their mid week flights that aren't full). Either way, I still had a great flight with Air NZ, the crew were great, and the flight silky smooth.
It's always a shame to see a 747 go to the wrecker. Wish I had the cash to buy the cockpit haha What a great home cockpit it would be.

Word is, NBS left for the states about an hour ago.

Sad to see one go,,
had a good life tho,,
sending people here to there,,
here to there? No! everywhere!!

Bye Bye NBS

Trolly wrote:

QUOTE (Trolly @ Jun 5 2009, 07:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Word is, NBS left for the states about an hour ago.

under its own power .. or schimmy'd in ta a crate

Ian Warren wrote:

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jun 5 2009, 08:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

under its own power .. or schimmy'd in ta a crate

Rumour has it they towed her

The trend may be leaning toward twin widebodies, but the 74 should NEVER be played down for what it did so long ago.

greaneyr wrote:

QUOTE (greaneyr @ Jun 5 2009, 09:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Rumour has it they towed her

The trend may be leaning toward twin widebodies, but the 74 should NEVER be played down for what it did so long ago.

Its design , it will be back , those last 40 years .. ArrrrrrrBussssss can never match , they have the concept .. finally , realistic ..the 747 will still be the Queen of the Sky , the leader!

From the MRC blog:


Air New Zealand's first Boeing 747-419, ZK-NBS (24386), is on its way to Roswell, New Mexico, this evening to be broken up for spares. As ANZ6390, the -400 lifted off Auckland's runway 23L at 1903 and made a right turn on track to its first stop, Los Angeles, where the flight will clear formalities before making the final flight to Roswell.

ZK-NBS was delivered to Auckland brand new on 16 December 1989 however due to industrial problems the aircraft was dry leased to Cathay Pacific and delivered to Hong Kong the following day. It commenced services with Cathay Pacific on 22 December on the Hong Kong-Bangkok-Singapore route and did not return to Air NZ's fleet until 11 February 1991 by which time the second -400, ZK-NBT, had arrived on 2 November 1990 and this aircraft was actually the first 400 series to operate Air NZ services. While with Cathay Pacific it wore their livery as seen here : http://www.airliners.net/photo/Cathay-Paci...-419/0915886/L/

ZK-NBS, powered by Rolls Royce RB211-524G engines, it was the test aircraft flown with one engine operating on 50/50 bio-fuel in late December 2008.
As at its final revenue flight, back on 07Jan09 as ANZ124 from Melbourne to Auckland, the Jumbo had accumulated 88306 flight hours and made 11488 landings. A test flight was carried out on 29May09 from/to Auckland of just under an hour's duration to check all systems following the aircraft's storage where all engines had been removed and its interior gutted while its future was pondered.

ZK-NBS flew on all the scheduled 747-400 routes however in the latter part of its career was kept off the Hong Kong-Heathrow route due to its oxygen system not being modified to the required standards. Possibly one of its most 'exotic' or unusual ports of call was a trip to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in July 1998 where the aircraft, after deplaning its passengers, carried out a flypast before positioning to Los Angeles.

ZK-NBS wore two names while with Air NZ, firstly "Mataatua" (the name of the canoe claimed as bringing ancestors from Hawaiki to Northland) in the 1990's and then during the early part of this decade a decal featuring the name "Bay of Islands" and a picture of the region's famous landmark, The Hole in the Rock, was placed on the forward fuselage.

Trolly wrote:

QUOTE (Trolly @ Jun 7 2009, 04:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ZK-NBS flew on all the scheduled 747-400 routes however in the latter part of its career was kept off the Hong Kong-Heathrow route due to its oxygen system not being modified to the required standards.

That's an intriguing comment - what would need modifying ?

Cheers
Gary

why do they have to wreck it. i want to talk to them it will cost them a fair ammount to wreck it but if they paid me just $100 then ill take it off their hands and put it in my back yard

Id Pay them 100 bux to let me have it. How about we go halves?

bags the front half

I remember watching a program on Foxtel that stripped down a a 747<400 (can't remember the model).

They basically stripped it bare, removed everything that could be sold, and then shredded the rest of it, almost brought me to tears. Apart from the bae 146, the 747 is my favourite plane.

Sigh, rest well NBS, you have been to places we could only wish to spend time in for 20 years of our life.

pilot.masman wrote:

QUOTE (pilot.masman @ Jun 7 2009, 06:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

why do they have to wreck it. i want to talk to them it will cost them a fair ammount to wreck it but if they paid me just $100 then ill take it off their hands and put it in my back yard

Why would it cost them to wreck it? Onselling all the parts would make it quite a profitable business. People don't recycle hundreds of planes a year just for the fun of it..