Boeing celebrates 747 at final commercial delivery of 'jumbo jet'

Boeing marked its final commercial delivery of the 747, "the Queen of the Skies" at a ceremony commemorating an aircraft that democratised flying and serves US presidents.

Thousands of current and former employees, celebrities and aviation industry brass converged on Boeing's plant in Everett, Washington, in the Northwestern part of the United States, a factory built for the assembly of the original "jumbo jet."

The existing fleet of planes are expected to fly for decades more, but in ceasing 747 production more than 50 years after the aircraft's first flight, Boeing is closing a chapter in the history of civil aviation.

John Diedrich, chief executive of Atlas Air, the cargo airline that purchased the final plane in the line, saluted the 747 as "the biggest, baddest commercial aircraft that's flying out there."

The jet has a unique legacy with a significance to aviation that is difficult to overstate.

Boeing built 1,574 747s in all. But the jet has over time been eclipsed by newer models that fly more efficiently and burn less fuel.

But the arrival of later generations of long-distance jets such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350, which are more fuel efficient than the 747, have remade intercontinental travel, allowing for direct trips between more places and diminishing the dominance of hubs.