Airline bids farewell to 747 plane with flight path art

Photo / Dmitry Terekhov, flickr.com/photos/44400809@N07/

After 48 years serving El Al airways, a Boeing 747 has made a special retirement flight between Italy and Israel.

But the pilot manning the "Queen of the Skies" on her final flight decided to make the journey a little more memorable before landing in Tel Aviv.

Dipping to 3000 metres around two hours into the jumbo jet's final flight, the pilot swerved and manoeuvred the aircraft above the Mediterranean Sea to create a stunning silhouette of the Boeing in the sky – which was captured by FlightRadar.

This 747 was the last of its kind to be used by El Al, which has now retired its entire fleet of the large Boeing aircraft.

Photo / Flight Radar

Altering its path neat Cyprus, the stunt celebrated its involvement with the airline – which used the 747 for decades.

The end of the 747s for the El Al airline also marks the end of their first-class cabin offering.

El Al announced earlier this year it would phase out the 747 in favour of the more fuel-efficient Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners after 48 years of service, a similar move to Australia, airline Qantas, which will also phase out their 747 fleet by the end of 2020.

Photo / Flight Radar