LONDON- London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) welcomed the arrival of a passenger-carrying Boeing 747 on March 26, 2024. Before the pandemic, such an event would have been unremarkable.
However, with the dwindling number of 747s in passenger service worldwide, a Lufthansa (LH) 747-8 visit to London’s main airport marked the first instance in eight months that a passenger version of the iconic ‘Queen of the Skies’ landed there.
Boeing 747 Lands At Heathrow Airport
The specific aircraft, with registration D-ABYG and operating as Lufthansa flight LH463, departed Miami on the evening of March 25, 2024. Taking off from the Florida airport (MIA) at 18:15, it embarked on its usual eight-hour journey back to its base in Frankfurt, Germany.
However, while cruising across the Atlantic at 29,000 feet (8,700 meters), the LH463 crew notified air traffic controllers of an onboard emergency, prompting a request to divert to Dublin Airport (DUB) in Ireland.
Subsequently, after further deliberation, the crew redirected the flight to London Heathrow instead of Dublin (DUB). The aircraft safely landed on Heathrow’s runway 09L at 05:58 local time.
After spending just over two hours at a widebody stand in Heathrow’s Terminal 2, the aircraft departed at 08:19 for its onward journey to Frankfurt. This segment lasted a mere 57 minutes, with the aircraft arriving at the German airport at 10:16 local time.
Rare Arrival
The recent arrival of the Lufthansa jumbo marked the return of a 747 in passenger configuration since July 2023. Interestingly, during the prior occurrence, a Lufthansa 747 gracing the London airport was registered as D-ABVZ.
Like its predecessor, this recent visit resulted from a diversion from an onboard medical emergency on flight LH471 from Toronto (YYZ) to Frankfurt (FRA).
It appears that Heathrow serves as Lufthansa’s preferred choice for transatlantic diversions, given the airline’s established staff and ground handling facilities at the airport.
Moreover, Lufthansa operates numerous flights from Heathrow to German airports daily, facilitating passenger re-accommodation in cases of aircraft technical issues.
Cirium’s aviation database indicates that D-ABYG is among the dwindling 53 commercial passenger-carrying 747s still operational globally, hinting at the rarity of visits to airports where the 747 once dominated.
D-ABYG made its inaugural flight in January 2013 and joined Lufthansa’s fleet in March 2013. Configured to accommodate 364 passengers across four classes (eight first class, 80 business class, 32 premium economy, and 244 economy class), it represents a notable relic of aviation history.
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