Con la entrega del úlast Boeing 747 produced from history, Today we will review the legacy of the “Queen of the Skies” on Ecuador together with its different operators.
Post and photos by Diogo da ConceiçãO
cover photo: NL
Tras más de medio siglo de producción, Boeing deliveredó el B747 número 1574 and the último de la historia. It is último B747-8F fue entregado a Atlas Air y Apex Logistics bajo su matrícula N863GT, last 31 from January. Esto cerró un capítulo importante en la historia de la aviación tratándose de un avión tan icónico, histórico y reconocible.
history of the boeing 747 in Ecuador
A través de estos más de 50 años al servicio de pasajeros y carga alrededor del mundo, the B747 in all its different versions hit the ground in Ecuador, nextón les presentamos un resumen de las diferentes aerolíneas que alguna vez operaron u operan actualmente al país con la “Queen of the Skies”.
the european Air France, It was the first aerosolínea en arribar dicho modelo al Ecuador, pero antes se necesitó una colocación de una doble capa asfáltica en el antiguo aeropuerto de Quito so that it is capable of receiving this aircraft of large proportions. El primer vuelo llegó the 2 November 1977, at 10 from meñhe, from Lima with approximately 60 passengers. after almost 2 hours, the grandfatherón partió para cumplir con la ruta Bogotá – Caracas – french antilles – París.
This first flight of a Boeing 747 to Ecuador was operated by Boeing 747-128 matriculado como N28366 y que posteriormente sería F-BPVN. On 1993 marketía a manos de AAR Corporation como N610AR y actualmente se encuentra almacenado/preservado dentro del Aeropuerto Will Rogers World de Oklahoma, Estados Unidos como parte del Instituto Civil Aeromédico de la FAA.
Algunas otras aerolíneas trajeron sus 747s durante las décadas de los 80s y 90s a Ecuador, What Aerolíneas Argentinas, Iberia, Lufthansa and even on some occasions the B747F of Martinair Cargo they operated during high season.
Subsequently, los B747 de pasajeros dejaron de ser regulares y reemplazados por aviones algo más smallños y eficientes con el fin de realizar rutas directas o sin tantas escalas. Pero eso no dejó de lado los B747 cargueros que fueron ampliamente vistos por estas latitudes. Like the Boeing 747-200F and -300F of Atlas Air que durante los primeros años de los 2000s eran vistos con frecuencia en Quito y Guayaquil a veces pintados totalmente de blanco o sin títulos y apenas con su cola pintada de azul con el fin de realizar misiones a Iraq. Later they began to arrive painted.
in october 2004, arribó por primera vez a Quito a boeing 747-400, se trató del N496MC de Polar Air Cargo que arribó for “rescatar” a un B743F de Atlas que tuvo un pequeño percance. The B747-400F of Cargolux spaghettién comenzaron a aparecer por Latacunga and sometimes in Quito when the Cotopaxi airport was closed.
La española Air Plus Comet trajo a Quito en diciembre de 2004 a boeing 747-300 luego de varios años sin ver una reina de pasajeros, this with the purpose of bringing illegal immigrants deported from España.
For his part, other B747s freighters, que nos visitaron en Ecuador durante la década de los 2000s tanto especiales como regulares fueron los B742F de 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 flightárter con turistas desde Paris Orly a Quito, this was the first time that a B747 was received with a sleeve at the old airport. The Boeing 747-400 de Air China a Quito operando para el Gobierno chino en misión diplomática en Marzo 2007.
The B747-200 and -400 de la española Pullmantur Air en diciembre de 2006 and 2009 respectively, cada uno por el cierre de las aerolíneas Air Madrid y Air Comet con el fin de rescatar a pasajeros que se quedaron varados. And in June 2012 arribó a Guayaquil a boeing 747-400 de la australiana Qantas en un vuelo fletado por The Captain’s Choice Tour con turistas que venían al Ecuador and especially at Gal Islandsápaid.
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, así as wellén los B742F de Southern Air y los B744F de Centurion y SkyLease Cargo. On 2015, due to the retirement of the MD-11 from Martinair Cargo, this aerosolíNea beganó a volar con los B747-400F de KLM Cargo que hasta hoy operan.
During official visits by heads of state, ministros o demás personajes políticos en el nuevo aeropuerto capitalino también nos han deleitado algunas “Reinas de los Cielos”. 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 Force Aérea de Corea del Sur con el primer ministro del país asiático.
For their part, the special visitors due to the earthquake in 2016 both in Quito and Guayaquil and Manta spaghettién incluyeron algunos 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 nos volvería a visitar pero en Quito.
On 2018, we had a Boeing 747-400 based on Guayaquil, this was the one from Wamos Air matriculado EC-KXN que operó temporalmente la ruta GYE-MAD-GYE para LATAM Ecuador.
Finally, the últimas visitas especiales por temporada de carga o por otras razones que han sido vistas en Quito son, Kalitta Air's B744F, Western Global, Korean Cargo, Magma Aviation, Saudia Charge, Singapore Airlines Cargo, UPS, Etihad Cargo, Cargologic, Air Cargo Global, y quizás entre todo este texto nos falte alguno más, a nice, there is no más que seguir disfrutando de la presencia de esta hermosa aeronave por muchas déevery más y decir:
¡Whaté viva la Reina de los Cielos!
Galería
¿Did they ever fly a Boeing 747 from or to Ecuador? Cuéntanos en los comentarios…
I remember that one 747 of Air France on approach for the 17 from the old MS. My parents took me to see it, I was a small child but already attracted by airplanes. It was impressive!! Of those things that remain in your memory forever. I remember too, already living in Andalusia, have seen a 747F on about two occasions(probably 742F) of Air France Cargo on the platform of the FAE Air Base, it's more, almost certainly one of the visits was when a C-130 of the FAE took off towards GYE with the remains of President Roldós. thanks Nicholas, excellent blog.
Thank you very much Esteban for your contribution.! That landing by 17 it was the first time he came?
thanks Nicholas. Indeed; I even remember advertising in El Comercio that I cut with the expectation of the soon coming. I guess the campaign made a lot of people go to the airport to want to see the “jumbo”.
Unbelievable that his first landing was right by the 17, even bigger challenge.
Apologies! my mistake. It was for the 35; I got confused.
Thanks anyway for the information!
In Guayaquil. Come in 1999 and 2009 that I worked for Asofloraustro, from the Expoflores union, I could appreciate on the track of the JJO beautiful 747 load, like those of Kalitta Air, Atlas Air and Martinair, of passengers I remember a long time ago the Wamos.
When I was a boy I saw the 747 of Pan Am that took off from GYE, beautiful airplanes thank God I was able to see live and direct working in the air or from my provoleged window of my house since I was very young, when they took off from 21.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.! In fact, the 747 de Wamos has been the last Boeing 747 in operating in Ecuador that I remember.
excellent info, very interesting especially the article of the first flight operated by Air France. Nicolas, it would be amazing to have a similar article with information about the historical operation of Air France in Ecuador., I've tried searching online and can't find anything., I've even seen a video of 1999 where you can see an AF A340 in Quito, I imagine that also making a stopover in Bogota before returning to Paris.
It seems that you needed to search a little more 😀 https://www.nlarenas.com/2019/04/la-historia-de-air-france-en-ecuador/