It’s time to start saying goodbye to the Queen of the Skies

After more than 50 years of production, the last Boeing 747 jet ever made has rolled out of the factory. The aviation and aerospace company will deliver it later today to Atlas Air for use as a cargo plane.

And the reason for its demise is pretty simple: the four-engine jet drinks more gas than Charlie Day – up to one gallon of fuel/second – and airliners and freighters are opting to use more efficient planes instead. But oh, what a life it’s led.

As legend has it, the Boeing 747 was first envisioned on a fishing trip. Pan Am Airlines founder Juan Tripp was seeking to cut costs and increase the number of seats, and challenged Boeing President William Allen to build a jet 2.5x bigger than the previous largest jet in service.

Allen said challenge accepted, and the first Pan Am flight using the Boeing 747 took off in 1970. The jet, dubbed the “Queen of the Skies,” had a fuselage measuring 225 feet long and a tail as tall as a six-story building. Its size enabled it to carry 350-400 passengers at a time, or more than double any plane before it – and reduced seat costs enough to bring airline travel to the masses.

• Prior to the 747’s use, the average family couldn’t afford to fly internationally. "This was THE airplane that introduced flying for the middle class in the US," Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith told Reuters.

✈️ Bottom line: Even though Boeing stopped making 747s, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still being used. There are 44 still active as passenger jets, and many more as cargo planes. So you can pocket that queen wave for the Queen of the Skies for another day.