Boeing 747-8 BBJ scrapped after flying only 29 hours

Photo from AFG Aviation on FlyinginIreland

A ten-year-old Boeing 747-8 that has flown fewer than 30 hours is being scrapped. The first of its kind to be taken apart, this large plane has had a lonely and isolated history since it was ordered by Saudi Arabia in 2008.

The queen of the skies was ordered by the government for Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz but he died unexpectedly in 2011 before delivery. According to Aerotelegraph, the plane was flown to the Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport five months after its delivery, near the end of 2012. The plane was parked and then began the long wait for a buyer.

Even with only 29 flight hours and 16 flights logged for the aircraft, the attempt to sell the plane for $95 million, did not catch any interest. The plane sat unused for ten years at the Swiss airport, despite numerous attempts to sell the jet at the $95 million price, which according to Aerotime, was one-fifth of the value of the new plane at the time.

AFG Ireland acquired the plane in July 2019 and announced the sale back to The Boeing Company in April 2022. FlyinginIreland said the plane was ferried from Basel to Marana, Arizona for storage on April 15. Around the time of the celebrated final delivery of the last Boeing 747 out of its facility in Everett, Washington, the BBJ was being dismantled at Pinal Airpark in Arizona.

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The Boeing, registered N458BJ, was taken apart, losing its engines, rudder and elevator, flaps on its wings, and parts of the tail cone and fuselage panels before being fully scrapped, according to Aerotelegraph.

The Boeing 747-8JA has serial number 40065 and according to FlyinginIreland, is one of the lowest-time airframes in existence.

The plane cost the Saudi Arabian government about $300 million at the time of the original purchase and was undergoing an VIP refit and was all white in color as it was never fully painted. This VIP version of the 747 could not be sold for even a fraction of the original cost. Aerotime said that as of Dec. 2022, only nine Boeing 747-8 BBJs were currently left in active service, operating for governments like Kuwait or Qatar.

The Boeing built for royalty never received royal treatment. The all-white aircraft sat idle for ten years, waiting for a buyer and a chance to fly. Just as the final of its kind is heading out for a triumphant delivery, this lonely Boeing is being scrapped, never given a chance to see the sky.