A jubilant crowd was gathered at the Barton City Airport in Salford to welcome the arrival of a Boeing 747 to its new home. Delighted punters got the chance to be up close and personal to a piece of British aviation history as it was slowly wheeled onto the site of the airport.
Parents took pictures of their young ones in front of the plane, budding photographers and videographers hauled their various, cameras, drones and electronic trinkets to capture the moment the plane arrived while others jumped at the chance to take a peak at what it looks like inside the cockpit of the iconic Boeing 747.
READ MORE A British Airways Boeing 747 plane is being driven up M5, M6, M56 and M60 to Manchester
In what was a ‘long time coming’ for organisers, the plane set off from Gloucester at around 9:40am this morning (August 11) making it's way along the M5, M6, M56 and M60, before arriving in Salford just after 2pm to a grand welcome. The plane will be stored in its own hangar at the airport which has already been decked out with branding and during the ceremony, a touching water canon salute was displayed to mark a momentous day for the airport in Salford.
Airline memorabilia company Doors2Manual saved the plane from the scrapheap and plan to use 'The Deck' as a backdrop for weddings, meetings, events and for educational purposes. It will also be the UK's only 747 flight simulator using a real aircraft flight deck.
Co-director of Doors2Manual Aine Behan told the MEN about her delight in seeing the welcome the plane received, she said: “It’s been a long time and coming and it was amazing to see the group of people around the corner waiting for the plane to arrive. We’ve been advertising today for a few weeks now and have received a lot of support, including yourselves (MEN) but today’s turnout makes us happy that we’ll be able to provide something that the community is obviously looking forward too.
“We have to get the deck into the hanger first, and then we’re going to get the clear the deck as it still has a lot of equipment in there, and then we’re going to get the engineers in to get power to the plane and we’re looking to getting customers inside the plane within the next few weeks. Doors2Manual was established a couple of years ago and we have had a lot of projects, but it’s good to complete something that’s going to take us to that next level.”
Commercial business development manager for City Airport Tracy Williams said: “It’s amazing to have a 747 arrive on site, it’s going to bring such a huge edition to our airport, the rest are all going to be coke cans, great to be working with Drew and the team.
"The airport was the original Manchester Airport before it moved over to Ringway, history is in our bones and blood so to have such a significant artefact arrive on site means a great deal to us. It fits in nicely with what we’re all about and it’s just great to be able to save something and see something developed out of it.
“It’s going to be a massive great edition to the site open to the public. There’s been a lot of buzz about it already on social media and a lot who came on site to day and we gave it a traditional welcome with the water canons as well.”
The 747 is a much-loved plane in the aviation industry. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic the final 38 were sent for early retirement. British Airways scrapped all 31 of its 747s – 10 per cent of its entire fleet, while Virgin Atlantic put its last seven of the aircraft out to pasture.
