Boeing 747-300
The stretched upper deck — a bigger hump for more seats · First flight 1982 · In service 1983
The 747-300 is easy to spot: its upper deck is 23 ft 4 in (7.1 m) longer than on earlier 747s, with two extra emergency exits. A straight staircase replaced the old spiral stair, freeing room for more seats, and small aerodynamic changes raised the cruise speed from Mach 0.84 to 0.85.
Swissair ordered it first and took the first delivery on 23 March 1983. Only 81 were built — 56 passenger aircraft, 21 -300M combis and four short-range -300SRs for Japan — because just two years after service entry Boeing announced the far more advanced 747-400. Qantas flew its last scheduled -300 service in December 2008.
One Qantas -300, VH-EBU, became a flying artwork in 1995 when it was painted in the "Nalanji Dreaming" Aboriginal design by Balarinji to mark the airline's 75th anniversary.
