'Aircraft for the people': Boeing's 747, the original jumbo jet, prepares for final send-off

A United Airlines Boeing 747 takes off from Los Angeles Airport in 2001. Picture: AP Photo/Lucy Nicholson

Boeing's 747, the original and arguably most aesthetic "Jumbo Jet", revolutionised air travel only to see its more than five-decade reign as "Queen of the Skies" ended by more efficient twinjet planes.

The last commercial Boeing jumbo was delivered to Atlas Air in the surviving freighter version on Tuesday, 53 years after the 747's instantly recognisable humped silhouette grabbed global attention as a Pan Am passenger jet.