Air China (CA, Beijing Capital) will phase out its last four remaining B747-400s before the end of the year. Having been replaced by an incoming fleet of B777-300(ER)s on longhaul routes, the quadjets are currently restricted to flights from Beijing Capital to Guangzhou, Hong Kong International, Shenzhen, Shanghai Hongqiao and Tokyo Narita.
According to Germany's aero.de, the B747's last Beijing - Shanghai flight is scheduled for the end of this month. Thereafter, the type's last commercial flight will likely be in October, though this is still subject to official confirmation.
Once a common sight at airports around the world, the B747-400 is becoming rarer and rarer with operators such as Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International) and Philippine Airlines (PR, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) having already outlined their own B747-400 retirement plans.
Across the Taiwan Strait in Taipei, China Airlines (CI, Taipei Taoyuan) has outlined its plans to withdraw its fleet of thirteen B747-400s. The TalkAirlines blog says the Taiwanese carrier's oldest B747, B-18251 (msn 27965), is set to leave the airline later in the year. Like its mainland Chinese rival, China Airlines also intends to replace its B747s with a fleet of B777-300(ER)s of which its first of ten, on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National), is due in September.
