747 is playing the role of hero during the virus crisis.

(CNN) – During the week of April 21, there were only 747 jumbo jets with passengers flying around the world. The Covid-19 pandemic has made the Queen of Heaven a monarch in danger of extinction.

But His Majesty could be having the best moment of his reign.

Expedited withdrawal

Two-thirds of the global aircraft fleet – nearly 17,000 of 26,000 aircraft – have been permanently stored or withdrawn from service. The iconic 747, which is already declining in number on the world’s airlines, has been hit hard by the pandemic, with only a few punished and on the way to retirement.

With the passenger fleet largely inactive, cargo that once unknowingly moved under our feet in wide-body passenger planes has to find its way to the market differently.

Airlines have been quick to pull out seats to perform rudimentary conversions of passenger jets to keep them making money, but it’s the cargo fleet that carries the heaviest cargo.

“When it comes to this pandemic, seeing a 747 Freighter landing at an airport is like an old west, when cavalry comes in to help people in distress,” said Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst and founder of Atmosphere. Research Group.

“The 747 is definitely playing a hero role in the worldwide essential cargo movement in this crisis.”

Earlier versions of the jumbo quad-jet were already being replaced by wider bodies of two more efficient, smaller, and newer engines from Boeing and Airbus. Airlines, including Lufthansa and KLM, have accelerated the recall of their old 747s, a couple of years earlier than originally planned.

Only two 747 passengers were found to be roaming the skies during that week in April, out of a small group of 16 planes that were still “in service,” according to Cirium, an aviation data and analytics company. Before the pandemic hit, there were less than 200 of the passenger jumbos.

But now that the international transportation of critical medical products has become a daily news headline, freight operators such as Silk Way Airlines, Atlas Air, Air Bridge Cargo and Cargolux, barely known to the traveling public before COVID-19, are the stars. logistical efforts to support first responders.

And they all fly the Boeing 747F, that’s “F” for the Freighter.

Moscow-based Air Bridge Cargo (ABC) has 17 747F: four newer 747-400F and 13 747-8F. As part of the Volga-Dnepr Group, known for its massive AN-124 and AN-225 military transport planes, ABC’s 747s are flying 15 hours a day.

“Air cargo solutions have never been more important than they are now to global health services. Currently, our international teams send multiple flights daily to ensure vital medical supplies protect those in need,” said Tatyana Arslanova, director. ABC operations executive.

She points to the 747-8F’s heated cargo holds as one of the assets of the large plane.

“Its three compartments can have different temperature settings from 4 degrees Celsius to 29 degrees (39 F to 84 F), giving us additional opportunities to transport perishable cargo, such as temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals and life-saving medical equipment” .

“It is a gift that I can return”

According to Cirium, there are 286,747 freighters of different models in service, representing approximately a quarter of the 1,152 fleet of main deck, wide-body cargo aircraft.

Captain Kelly Lepley commands both UPS Airlines 747 models: the newer 747-8F and the older 747-400F.

“You know you’re wearing a life-saving team underneath, and you know it’s going to make a difference for those who need it on the front line. It’s very humble, and it’s not something I thought about when I started my aviation career. 30 years ago years. But now, I feel like it’s a gift that I can return, in a time of crisis, “Lepley said in an interview with CNN Travel.

UPS has 28 747F in its fleet, with an additional order of 15 747-8F. As part of the fleet of 261 dedicated cargo planes, the airline has lobbied its largest freighters in the fight against the pandemic.

“UPS was already well positioned to support efforts to move critical supplies to the areas that need it most,” said Michelle Polk, a UPS spokeswoman. “With governments and public authorities classifying UPS as an essential service provider, the company is combining the flexibility of its global network to respond to the Coronavirus pandemic.”

Lepley said the pandemic has changed the way crews pass their stopovers during stops on their multi-day flight schedules.

“Being a pilot can be a lonely career. We are traveling a lot, away from our families. Now we land, we go to our rooms and we are not allowed to leave our rooms or socialize.” Many countries right now are afraid of what we can bring, so to avoid that and stay safe, we are required to stay in our rooms. ”

Cargo aircraft, like all other aircraft, must balance the load and the amount of fuel with the maximum payload of an aircraft, which translates to the distance any flight can travel. Flights from major Chinese cities to Anchorage take around 8.5 to 9 hours.

“We can do that easily and carry a full payload on a 747-8F,” said Lepley.

Newest version capable of carrying 300,000 pounds of cargo

The newer version of the Cargo 747 is based on the passenger model, the 747-8. At just over 250 feet, it is the longest of all jumbos, with new engines and improved aerodynamics.

“It is a beautiful airplane to fly. It is a very stable airplane, very smooth, an elegant airplane,” said Lepley. “From the cockpit it’s hard to imagine you’re flying something that big until you get off the plane and look at it and say, ‘I just blew this thing up!'”

The freighter has a feature that gives the 747 its iconic profile. With the cockpit out of the way on the upper deck, the nose of the aircraft opens upward, opening the entire main deck for loading. The aircraft also has a cargo door on the main deck at the rear of the fuselage. Between the main deck and the belly cargo hold, a 747-8F can carry more than 300,000 pounds of cargo.

A specialty of Air Bridge Cargo, “the front cargo door gives us the opportunity to load oversized cargo,” explained Arslanova of ABC. “That allows us to transport extra-long pipelines, diesel generators, compressors, pumps, and other large and heavy marine equipment.”

More than 50 years ago, Boeing expected the 747 to be nothing more than a postscript in aviation history, and passengers would soon be flying supersonic aircraft.

So Joe Sutter, the 747’s chief engineer, and his team designed the jumbo to make it a freighter, with a main deck width that could handle two rows of eight-foot-wide cargo containers and the drop nose that gives it to 747 its distinctive “hump”.

More than 1,500 deliveries later, the Queen of Heaven has shown remarkable longevity.

“We knew it would play a role connecting the world 50 years later. We would not have known that we would have this epic pandemic that would affect much of the world and affect almost every country,” said Harteveldt of Atmosphere.

“I am sure there are people who worked on the project at Boeing who are not entirely surprised that the 747 is a knight in shining armor. The aircraft has repeatedly demonstrated in its history that when the chips are down, the 747 can be counted to come to the rescue. “