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Browsing Tag: Boeing 747-400 combi

Ciao, Combi! KLM Sends Its 747 Fleet Off Into the Sunset

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Saying goodbye to any 747 is hard, but one that is unique, is harder.

Thanks to COVID, the majority of airlines have grounded their four-engine widebody planes. Most A380s, A340s, and 747-8s will see the skies again. But a return to flight isn’t as certain for many 747-400s, which were already long in the tooth.

The same KLM Boeing 747-200 now with a Stretched Upper Deck. Taken in August 2003.

The same KLM Boeing 747-200 now with a Stretched Upper Deck. Taken in August 2003.

The Dutch airline KLM was already working towards a 2021 retirement for its 747-400s, but thanks to COVID the fleet was retired a few weeks ago. And the AvGeek nostalgists that we are, we felt it was a departure worth commemorating. Especially because KLM operated the oddball passenger/freighter hybrid called the Combi, which included a cargo bay in the rear part of the main deck.

Read on for a quick farewell to the KLM Combi and the rest of its proud 747 fleet.

Update 4/18: It looks like KLM has brought back a small number of 747 Combi flights connecting Amsterdam and a few Asian industrial centers. Not sure how long that will last, but we’re happy the Combi has one final job to do with KLM. 

Party Like It’s 1999 – Flying on KLM’s Fokker 70 & 747 Combi

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Ready for boarding - Photo: Erwyn van der Meer |FlickrCC

Ready for boarding – Photo: Erwyn van der Meer |FlickrCC

If you tallied up the number of flight reviews on this site, you will notice that the majority of them are for business and first class. It turns out that premium cabins are just more interesting than economy, with all the fancy lie-flat suites, and butler service in your private bedroom. More often than not, economy is, well….boring. But sometimes it can be pretty exciting — depending on what kind of plane you are flying.

That’s the position I found myself in recently when I flew back to the 1990s on board KLM’s Fokker 70 and Boeing 747-400 “combi.” Both aircraft types have become exceedingly rare, and I jumped at a chance to fly them between Hamburg, Germany and New York, via Amsterdam.