First Boeing 777
Boeing - 1994-YearOf 777 First Flight. The American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER featured here presents the airline's new Premium Economy product. The aircraft is configured with seating for 273 in three cabins including Business Class - featuring 37 seats that transform into fully lie-flat beds, Premium Economy - featuring 24 recliner-style seats plus additional legroom, and the Main Cabin Economy Class.
The Boeing 777 is the world’s largest twinjet. The first Boeing 777 model, the 777-200, entered commercial service with United Airlines in 1995. Ranks as one of Boeing’s best-selling models. Typical seating capacity of between 314 and 451 passengers.
British Airways has today retired its first Boeing 777 aircraft.
Registered G-ZZZC, the frame was delivered to the airline in November 1995. It was the first Boeing 777 aircraft to be delivered to the airline. Both G-ZZZA and G-ZZZB followed at a later date after being used by Boeing as test aircraft.
This leaves just two Boeing 777A aircraft in the British Airways fleet. They are also slated for disposal in the coming months.
These aircraft won’t be the first British Airways Boeing 777’s to leave the fleet however. Previously, the airline operated 5 A market 777 aircraft. Two (registered G-ZZZD and G-ZZZE) were returned to Boeing in 2002. Where as G-ZZZD looks to still be flying, G-ZZZE wasn’t so lucky. That particular frame was scrapped at just 11 years old, and can now be seen on Google Maps in its final resting place in Arkansas.
Seeing that G-ZZZC is now in St. Athan, it’s more than likely that the aircraft will be scrapped.
Having a limited range compared to the 777-200ER, the G-ZZZ* registered British Airways aircraft were somewhat limited in their capabilities. As such, they were more often than not found on the shorter of the long haul routes that the airline operated.
G-ZZZC operated the London – Abuja route for its final days. Previous to this, it operated between London and Newark between 24th – 30th December.
First Boeing 777x Flight
Cabin wise, there wasn’t too much difference to the -ER variants that British Airways operate. However, G-ZZZC did have a slightly larger First cabin compared to most of the later G-VII* registered fleet.
British Airways also operate 12 of the larger 777-300ER aircraft.
First Boeing 777 Retired
This isn’t the end of the road for the Boeing 777 at British Airways though. The airline still intends to operate their fleet of 43 Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. These aircraft will be the first in the British Airways fleet to be retrofitted with the new Club World Suite that was rolled out over the summer of 2019 onboard the new Airbus A350 aircraft.
Track the final flight of G-ZZZC here:
Header photo credit: @RampRatRick/Twitter
The first passenger Boeing 777 built is being flown to a museum today, having spent the last quarter of a century ferrying bods from A to B.
Boeing is still building the 777 long-haul airliner to this day, albeit with more than a few tweaks to the original 1990s design.
Techies, particularly those in the APAC region, will be more than familiar with Boeing's products thanks to the wide spread of companies, locations and conferences baked into the industry. With more than 1,500 777s built, odds are a long-haul flight is being operated by one of them.
Registered in China as B-HNL, the very first production Boeing 777 rolled off the line in 1994, receiving the maker's number WA001 and entering the US register as N7771. For Boeing it marked a number of new technological innovations; it was their first fly-by-wire aircraft, and the first to be designed entirely by computer.
It spent three years as a flying testbed before being bought by Cathay Pacific, at which point it was completely overhauled, fitted with new Rolls-Royce engines in place of its original Pratt & Whitney turbofans, re-registered and delivered for passenger flights in 2000.
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READ MORESince its delivery from Boeing, according to Cathay Pacific, B-HNL racked up 20,519 flights totalling 49,687 flying hours with the airline. A potted history of the aircraft states that it flew 1,729 hours with Boeing in its testbed days, giving a grand total of 51,416 hours gracing the skies. The airline was one of half a dozen closely consulted by Boeing during the initial design phases of the 777's inception.
Around seven or eight flying hours will be added to B-HNL's total thanks to today's ferry flight, which started in China and, via a 55-minute hop to Hong Kong for refuelling, will end in the US, at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
The 777 was Boeing's answer to Airbus's A300 jets, which were the first long-ranged, wide bodied twin-engined aircraft with large passenger capacities. Today the 777 competes directly with the European manufacturer's A330 and A350 aircraft, in its 777-ER, LR and X variants. ®