May 5, 2026.   Retro Jumbo.

Like the foresail of some great sailing vessel; the unmistakable tail of a 747. A Lufthansa -400, in this case, at Boston-Logan the other evening.

I’m not much for that new Lufthansa livery, but it’s nice to see the 747 still hanging in there. Lufthansa is the only major carrier still flying passengers in the -400 version (and has flown 747s continuously since 1970).

The airline is also the only (and likely the final) regular 747 operator at Logan, using the jet seasonally to Frankfurt. Not all that long ago you could see six or seven 747s wingtip-to-wingtip at terminal E: British Airways, Virgin, Swissair, Northwest, Alitalia, Olympic, and so on. Now it’s just the Germans.

Photo by the author.