14 DAY TRIAL // Just recently, the large Boeing 747 jumbo-jet has reached the venerable age of 4 decades since it was first used. Out of the thousands of people traveling aboard one of these planes everyday, not many stop for a minute to wonder about how this great invention came to be, or about what would have air travel looked like if the 747 hadn't been invented. This article is a tribute to the airplane that has changed the way people look at air travel and has brought the dream of flying closer to more individuals than any other plane ever constructed.
The City of Everett, the name given to the first 747 to roll out of Boeing's production lines, took its 75 minute-long maiden flight precisely 40 years ago, in a run that would lead to the model being accepted for mass production shortly after.
Over the years, this airplane would become the reference point for every other airplane built at the time, due to its wide-body construction, meaning that the age of passenger jets with only one aisle between the seats was over. The new Boeing had 2 aisles on which people could walk in mid-flight, which ridded the aviation industry of the image it had built, of transporting persons in tight and crammed machines.
Once the 747 was introduced, individuals traveling by air were finally able to do so in a luxurious space, with plenty of room to move around, and with a tall ceiling. Also, the upper deck, which in the first models was actually a bar for the first-class passengers, was reachable via a spiral stair case, a thing that had never before been seen in any other airplane in the world.
Of course, over time, such levels of luxury have become standards for later models of airplanes, regardless of manufacturers, but Boeing will go down in history as the first to have brought such an improvement to the people.
Because most airlines operating the impressive craft opted for a number of 300 to 400 seats and a 3-classes configuration, air travel suddenly became cheap enough for poorer people to afford. Companies had to set in motion various promotions, so as not to operate such large airplanes only half-filled. This type of mentality led to the boom in air travel, registered during the 1970s and 1980s. Soon, all major operators contracted large, wide-body, double-decked airplanes to carry their passengers, which further increased their overall number.
On the whole, it's safe to say that the Boeing 747 is probably one of the best aircrafts to have ever been constructed, as proven by the fact that even the American presidential fleet has two modified versions of the large jumbo-jet. As a homage to the contributions that Boeing has made to global aviation, we wish a Happy Birthday to the 747!