Saturday, April 7, 2012

Last Flight of Megatop


I was standing in the large square looking towards the twin engine plane burning and falling from the sky. Strange enough, I was shouting at the people to run and hide as plane was falling toward us but no one in that busy square was listening. They were not aware of the plane and they were not aware of me! I also strangely was not hiding, just watching. The plane fell all the way down to the large Christian cemetery right next to the square and crashed with a loud bang and before the firewall consumed me I have jumped out of the bed!

This was not the best dream to have in the day I was taking a long haul flight with Singapore Airlines from Istanbul to Singapore. And when I realized that due to the traffic I may miss the plane, I was unconsciously not rushing to the gate and thinking really stupid things : "The plane in my dream was a Boeing 777 and Singapore Airlines always uses Boeing 777 on this route. Oh come on, the belly of the aircraft in my dream was yellow, I am pretty sure". I have even stupidly thought about Jaswant Basuta, who was checked in for Pan Am Flight 103, but arrived at the boarding gate too late and saved his life from one of the worst air disasters of the aviation history.

All these stupid things just puffed away from my mind when I have seen the beautiful shape of a large mega-top of Singapore Airlines at the gate! This is a Boeing 747 man, it is 4 engine not 2 like the one in my dream! Actually just moments after I have seen it, I completely forgot what I was thinking a few seconds ago. I have never flew with a Boeing 747 before, and now I will have the chance to fly with the queen of the skies, with whom I dreamed to fly since I was a kid.

This is my short memory about these beautiful planes Singapore Airlines retired yesterday. Just 11 years ago in 2001, Singapore Airlines has the largest number of Boeing 747 in its fleet but now they are all retired after 40 years of service in Singapore Airlines. SIA is currently going with Airbus 380 and I think since their passenger share is bleeding out to competition from full service carriers of Middle East and budget airliners in short distance, they have retired these large planes very fast:

"Retiring the Boeing 747 fleet could be good for Singapore Airline's (SIA) bottom line, according to analysts who said newer and more efficient models could help steer the airline away from current cost pressures.

Rising fuel costs, a decline in premium passenger numbers and competition pressures have placed a heavy squeeze on SIA's yields."
Source : Retiring 747 fleet could benefit SIA's bottom line: analysts

Boeing 747 -400 series airliners were introduced to SIA fleet in 1983 and were called Megatops. 

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