Boeing 747-400
Winglets and a glass cockpit — the best-selling 747 of all · First flight 1988 · In service 1989
The 747-400 kept the -300's stretched upper deck but modernised almost everything else. Its wingspan grew to 64.4 m and gained 6 ft (1.8 m) winglets, new engines and a tail fuel tank added range, and a two-crew glass cockpit cut the number of dials, gauges and switches from 971 to 365 — removing the flight engineer for good. It first flew on 29 April 1988 and entered service with Northwest Airlines on 9 February 1989.
With 694 delivered in passenger, combi, domestic, freighter and extended-range versions, it is by far the most-built 747. British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines were all at times its largest operators; the last passenger -400 went to China Airlines in April 2005.
In 1989 Qantas' first -400, VH-OJA "City of Canberra", flew non-stop from London to Sydney — 18,001 km in 20 hours 9 minutes, a commercial distance record. And in February 2020, riding the jet stream of Storm Ciara, a British Airways -400 crossed from New York to London in 4 hours 56 minutes, a subsonic record.
