First (and Last) Landing of a B747 in Lleida
Few things in commercial aviation rival the majesty of a B747 landing. Today, Lleida Airport witnessed this spectacle for the first time: 18 wheels touching down, four massive engines hanging from its wings, and its iconic double-decker passenger bridges—a symbol of air travel over the past half-century. On January 22, it will mark 50 years since its inaugural commercial flight on the New York-London route by Pan Am.
Gradually adopted by major airlines worldwide, the jumbo jet became an aeronautical icon, even surpassing Airbus’s A380 in popularity despite its greater capacity. This afternoon, a Boeing 747-400 from Wamos Air made its maiden landing at Lleida-Alguaire Airport. The airport itself, inaugurated on January 17, 2010, initially intended for regional flights, later focused on charter flights from the UK for skiing in the Pyrenees.
Directors Toni Serra and Jordi Candela, alongside a small team, redirected Alguaire towards education, industrial development, and aircraft services. Recently, it has hosted flight schools, long-term parking for commercial aircraft (including Icelandair and Norwegian Air’s grounded 737 MAXs), and aircraft maintenance and recycling services.
Today’s landing of EC-KSM, which flew from Madrid and will be recycled at Alguaire by Aeronpark and Servitec, marked the end of its service. Boeing delivered this aircraft to Singapore Airlines in 1994, where it served extensively before being retired in 2008.
The Boeing 747, after 50 years and various evolutions, is nearing the end of its commercial era, paralleling the A380’s limited success. Older models, like today’s, are being replaced by more technologically and economically efficient aircraft, marking a significant shift in aviation history—a history where Lleida unexpectedly played a role, with more such stories anticipated as Aeronpark plans to recycle Spain’s remaining active 747s.
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Original Source: La Vanguardia
