VIP Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, Which Flew for Only 42 Hours, Is Being Dismantled

• A Boeing 747-8 that flew for just 42 hours is being dismantled according to a report.
• The $280million jet was ordered by a Saudi prince. He died before it was delivered.
• Boeing purchased the plane from a private buyer in April. However, it failed to find a buyer and decided to dispose of it. 

According to reports, a Boeing Jumbo jet which spent only 42 hours in the air was being scrapped after the unexpected death of the Saudi prince that it was purchased for.

Germany’s aero TELEGRAPH reportedThe Boeing 747-8 was being decommissioned at Pinal Airpark, Arizona after no buyer was found despite an asking price of $95 million.

The aircraft was ordered by Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, at a cost estimated at $280 million. However, he died unexpectedly in October 2011, one year before it was delivered.

Data from planespotters.netIt was shown that the plane was flown from San Antonio to Basel in Switzerland in 2012. Mail Online reportedIt was due to be fitted with a luxury interior.

The crown prince died and no other members of the Saudi royal family expressed an interest in the jet. It remained unoccupied for ten years at a Swiss airport, while a buyer was sought.

Three days before the aircraft’s final flight to Arizona in April 2018, Boeing purchased the plane again for an undisclosed sum. This fuelled speculation that the jet could be saved, according to the Mail.

—Joel Basler | Aviation Photographer (@jbjetss) April 17, 2022

The jet flew for only 42 hours, and its “hardly used status” could have been a selling point to potential buyers. A Boeing 747 usually has a lifespan of about 30 years.

The jet was never purchased and it is now being scrapped at Arizona’s “boneyard”.

The 747-8Lufthansa continues to use it for cargo and passenger flights, even though its four engines make it more expensive to operate than twin-engine planes like the 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350.

After half a century of production, the last Boeing 747 was rolled out of its Washington factory.

—Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) December 7, 2022