Depending on your luck, you could be able to board one of the several government, air force, or private Boeing 747s or be able to find a jump seat, including on one of the numerous freighters. If you’re not, you’ll have to choose, like the rest of us, between being crew or purchasing a ticket, and your options for doing so are quickly running out. Where are 747-400 flights available this summer?
passenger trips on the 747-400
Air China, Asiana, Lufthansa, and Saudia are the four airlines that offer regular, scheduled, and bookable 747-400 passenger flights. They only have 15 of these aircraft at the time.
It should be noted that Saudia, which operates three 747-400s from Air Atlanta Europe, has a very restricted number of scheduled trips, as will be covered below. Instead, almost all are charters bringing pious travelers from South Asia, North Africa, and Indonesia.Different operators exist. One of these is Nigeria’s MaxAir, whose two planes are constantly flying pilgrims from West Africa to Medina and Jeddah.
Iranian airline Mahan Air’s sole 747-400 aircraft was last operated in late April, but Rossiya’s fleet of nine aircraft is still idle. For its high-density aircraft on leisure routes, the Russian operator was widely recognized.
You may fly them here.
The following 747-400 itineraries are available for July through September on Air China, Asiana, Lufthansa, and Saudia. Only nine routes, which are outlined below, cover the northern summer peak.
Air China Beijing Capital Shenzhen (daily twice as often)
Asiana
So Paulo Incheon
Tokyo Narita (four times a week, only July–August) and Shanghai Pudong (up to daily)
Lufthansa
Frankfurt-Dalian (up to daily), Seoul-Incheon (up to daily), Shanghai-Pudong (up to daily), Toronto-Dalian, and Vancouver-Dalian.
Saudia Jeddah Algiers (up to four times per week); this route has a three-digit flight number and can be booked normally, whilst other routes have four and appear to be charters.
There are often twice as many flights going out as coming in, 56/57 every week. One former operator, British Airways, had 181 departures per week from its Heathrow hub in July 2019 to put this into context.
The most popular route
Air China’s domestic route from Beijing Capital to the Pearl River Delta city of Shenzhen, a distance of 1,212 miles (1,951 kilometres), has the most scheduled 747-400 services of any other route. The following flight schedule:
Beijing to Shenzhen: CA1313 at 11:00 am and CA1397 at 2:00 pm
Beijing to Shenzhen: CA1314, 16:00–19:15; CA1398, 19–22:10
What later changes occur?
Beginning on October 29th, airlines in the Northern Hemisphere adopt winter schedules. As of June 16th, and subject to change, Air China will continue to fly only one 747-400 route in November. It will fly three times per day as opposed to two.
The equipment indicated in Cirium or OAG is not being used by Asiana for any flights. Lufthansa, by contrast, plans to use them from Frankfurt to Bengaluru, Delhi, New York JFK, and Seoul Incheon.
Flights from Frankfurt to Seoul are available here.
