AMSTERDAM, Mar. 29, 2020- The last revenue flight by KLM's Boeing 747-400 landed into Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, marking an end to over 3 decades of operation with the 747-400, and even more with the earlier variants of the Queen of the skies herself. KLM received their first -400 on the 18th May 1989, and the aircraft has since been the largest in the airlines' fleet, bringing passengers to exotic destinations such as San Francisco, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Nairobi.
The final flight by the Delft Blue Queen was made by aircraft "PH-BFT", Named "City of Tokyo", operating as flight KL686 from Mexico City to Amsterdam. The aircraft arrived one last time at her home base of Schiphol at 1540hours in the afternoon. Initial plans for retirement of the Boeing 747 was slated for January 2021, however with the worsening situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, KLM decided to bring forward the 747-400's retirement as part of cost saving measures. The Airline will continue to operate the B747-400F for their cargo operations, with a total of 3 in KLM's fleet.