A 10-Year-Old VIP Boeing 747-8 with Around 50 Flight Hours Is Being Scrapped
AZ – A Juvenile 747 with little flight experience has met its end in the desert of Arizona. A multi-million-dollar marvel is being scrapped for parts before its life in the skies ever truly began. The Boeing 747, with roughly 50 flight hours, met its end yesterday, December 19th, when crews began dismantling the giant for parts. The lightly used queen of the skies spent its last moments amongst the remains of its elder relatives at Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona.
Pinal Airpark has become famous as an airplane graveyard. The sands of Southern Arizona hold the bones of thousands of past aircraft. From small, light general aviation airplanes to monstrous jumbo jets, the desert holds the stories of many forgotten marvels. Over the past decade, the number of 747s registered as permanent residents at the graveyard has snowballed as the jet has fallen out of favor with many air carriers. However, many remain in use, specifically in the cargo industry. While select passenger operators continue to fly the 747, the 747s with the brightest future have taken up work carrying boxes and other cargo worldwide. Many of these cargo 747s were built for that purpose from the start, while others were later converted from passenger configurations.
When the pandemic hit the aviation industry, many passenger airlines retired their 747 fleets. Some of these jumbos were saved and converted to freighters, but most made their way to the scrapyard. Stories of low-time 747’s being scrapped are far from unique in 2022. However, N458BJ is by far the least experienced of the lot. The Boeing 747-8BBJ is configured to act as a business jet rather than a traditional passenger airline. The aircraft took to the skies for the first time in 2012 with a bright future of flying ahead of it. In 2012, the plane was delivered to the Saudi Arabian Royal Flight Group. Unfortunately, the plane was never taken up and pushed into service. The aircraft registered N458BJ remained with the flight group for a short time before being relocated to Basel, Switzerland, where it remained parked for nearly ten years.
In its time of isolation, attempts were made to sell and repurpose the aircraft. None of these efforts yielded results leading to the bird’s untimely end. With only 42 flight hours, the bird was allowed to return to its home in the skies one final time. This last flight took the jet from Switzerland to Arizona, where it would be salvaged. The plane will be scrapped for valuable parts, including the engines, avionics, and more which can be used as replacement parts for other 747-8’s in operation. Scrapping the plane like this will allow the owner to recover a significant portion of the initial investment into the flying behemoth.