The Boeing Story 747 in Ecuador

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With the delivery of the last Boeing 747 produced from history, repasaremos hoy el legado de la «Queen of the Skies» en Ecuador together with its different operators.

Post and photos by Diogo da Conceição
cover photo: NL

After more than half a century of production, Boeing delivered the number B747 1574 and the last of the story. This last B747-8F was delivered to Atlas Air and Apex Logistics under its license plate N863GT, last 31 from January. This closed an important chapter in aviation history for such an iconic aircraft., historical and recognizable.

history of the boeing 747 in Ecuador

Through these more than 50 years serving passengers and cargo around the world, the B747 in all its different versions hit the ground in Ecuador, Below we present a summary of the different airlines that once operated or currently operate in the country with the "Queen of the Skies”.

the european Air France, was the first airline to arrive with this model at the Ecuador, but first it was necessary to place a double asphalt layer in the old airport of Quito so that it is capable of receiving this aircraft of large proportions. The first flight arrived on 2 November 1977, at 10 in the morning, from Lima with approximately 60 passengers. after almost 2 hours, the plane left to meet the Bogotá route – Caracas – french antilles – Paris.

This first flight of a Boeing 747 to Ecuador was operated by Boeing 747-128 registered as N28366 and later would be F-BPVN. On 1993 would pass into the hands of the AAR Corporation as N610AR and is currently stored/preserved within Oklahoma's Will Rogers World Airport, United States as part of the FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute.

Some other airlines brought their 747s during the 1980s and 1990s to Ecuador, What Argentinian airlines, Iberia, Lufthansa and even on some occasions the B747F of Martinair Cargo they operated during high season.

Subsequently, the passenger B747 stopped being regular and replaced by somewhat smaller and more efficient planes in order to carry out direct routes or without so many stopovers. But that did not leave out the B747 freighters that were widely seen around these latitudes.. Like the Boeing 747-200F and -300F of Atlas Air that during the first years of the 2000s were frequently seen in Quito and Guayaquil sometimes painted completely white or without titles and just with their tail painted blue in order to carry out missions to Iraq. Later they began to arrive painted.

in october 2004, first arrived at Quito a boeing 747-400, It was the Polar Air Cargo N496MC that arrived to "rescue" an Atlas B743F that had a small mishap. The B747-400F of Cargolux also began to appear Latacunga and sometimes in Quito when the Cotopaxi airport was closed.

The Spanish Air Plus Comet brought to Quito in December 2004 a boeing 747-300 after several years without seeing a passenger queen, this with the purpose of bringing illegal immigrants deported from Spain.

For his part, other B747s freighters, that visited us in Ecuador during the 2000s, both special and regular, were the B742F from Southern Air, B742F de TradeWinds Cargo, B742F of CargoB, B744F de World Airways, B744F Jade Cargo, B742F de Kalitta Air, SkyExpress AirCargo B742F, Air Cargo Germany B744F and Emirates Sky Cargo B744F (Operated by Atlas Air).

Some surprise passenger queens were, the boeing 747-300 the Corsaire (In the GSEX) in May of 2005 on a charter flight with tourists from Paris Orly to Quito, this was the first time that a B747 was received with a sleeve at the old airport. The Boeing 747-400 Air China to Quito operating for the Chinese Government on a diplomatic mission in March 2007.

 

The B747-200 and -400 of the Spanish Pullmantur Air in December 2006 and 2009 respectively, each one for the closure of the airlines Air Madrid and Air Comet in order to rescue passengers who were stranded. And in June 2012 arrived at Guayaquil a boeing 747-400 of the Australian Qantas on a flight chartered by The Captain's Choice Tour with tourists who came to the Ecuador and especially at Galapagos Islands.

With the opening of Quito's new airport and having other arrival options such as Latacunga, new B747s began to visit us in Ecuador. Like the B747-8F of Etihad and Atlas, and the B744F & B748F of the Russian AirBridge Cargo to Quito, el B747-8F de Cargolux to Latacunga, as well as the B742F of Southern Air and the B744F of Centurion and SkyLease Cargo. On 2015, due to the retirement of the MD-11 from Martinair Cargo, this airline began to fly with the KLM Cargo B747-400F that still operates today.

During official visits by heads of state, Ministers or other political figures in the new capital airport have also delighted us with some "Queens of Heaven". For instance, in november 2016, of the B747-400 of Air China with President Xi Jinping and his entourage; in October of 2018, a B747-8BBJ of Qatar Amiri Flight on the Emir of Qatar and in May of 2019 a boeing 747-400 of the South Korean Air Force with the prime minister of the Asian country.

For their part, the special visitors due to the earthquake in 2016 both in Quito and Guayaquil and Manta also included some Boeing 747, especially B747-400s freighters like the ones from Air China Cargo (UIO), China Cargo Airlines (UIO), National Airlines (GYE) and a TransAvia Export Boeing 747-300F from Belarus to Manta, and that later in 2020 would visit us again but in Quito.

On 2018, we had a Boeing 747-400 based on Guayaquil, this was the one from Wamos Air registered EC-KXN that temporarily operated the GYE-MAD-GYE route for LATAM Ecuador.

Finally, the last special visits for cargo season or for other reasons that have been seen in Quito son, Kalitta Air's B744F, Western Global, Korean Cargo, Magma Aviation, Saudia Charge, Singapore Airlines Cargo, UPS, Etihad Cargo, Cargologic, Air Cargo Global, and perhaps among all this text we are missing some more, a nice, there is nothing more to continue enjoying the presence of this beautiful aircraft for many more decades and say:

Long live the Queen of Heaven!

Gallery

Have you ever flown a Boeing 747 from or to Ecuador? Tell us in the comments…

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