The airlines, museums and deserts where old Qantas 717 and Boeing 747 planes end up

Think your 30-year-old, red-tailed A330 is tired? We tracked where some of Qantas’s most beloved but oldest planes have ended up, from the Mojave desert to other big airlines.

Qantas 747s are scattered around boneyards in California, Arizona and Mississippi, in a rather inglorious end to their existence.

With an average fleet age of a teenager, Qantas doesn’t get rid of aircraft too often. But when it does, other airlines and lessors take notice.

Take the retirement of QantasLink’s Boeing 717 fleet last year, and the phasing out of Dash 8 Q200 and Q300 aircraft.

Within months buyers had emerged: 19 of the Boeing 717s – average age 23 years – went to Delta Air Lines, one of just a couple of carriers still flying that aircraft.

The other is Hawaiian Airlines, which already counts ex-Qantas 717s in its fleet after purchasing two in 2012. If you’ve ever flown from Honolulu to Maui, it was probably on a 717.

Former QantasLink Dash 8s are also getting a second lease of life with three Q200s and 16 Q300s sold to Canadian lessor Avmax Aircraft Leasing this month.

Qantas made the decision to phase out the smaller turboprops in favour of newer and larger Q400s last year.

For Avmax, the move was most welcome. It says the “exceptional reliability of the aircraft, late serial numbers and excellent maintenance made them among the best on the market”.

“The purchase of these well-maintained Q300s is a significant step forward for Avmax,” said the aircraft owner’s CEO Steve Hankirk. “We are currently in discussions with multiple operators for sale or lease opportunities.”

Where some of the former Qantas fleet have ended up.

Avmax confirmed the three Q200s were headed for North Queensland operator Skytrans, ensuring their continuity in Australia, with the first one delivered weeks ago.

VH-TQG is now over 29 years old, but is earmarked to fly Sydney-Lord Howe Island for SkyTrans from next February, after it won the NSW Government contract for the route.

Former Qantas 787 captain and historian Don Hill said with an ongoing global aircraft shortage, it was no surprise well-maintained aircraft were in demand.

“Aircraft are being built to last longer, compared to those in the 1930s, 40s and 50s,” said Mr Hill. “The DC3s, DC4s, Super Connies, those things, they really had a much shorter lifespan but back then developments in aviation were coming thick and fast – pressurisation, and getting away from propeller-driven into turbine engines – so the life of an aeroplane was much shorter than it was once the jet came along.”

Sixteen QantasLink Q300s have been sold to Canadian lessor Avmax despite being getting quite long in the tooth.

As one of Qantas’ best-loved aircraft, there was a huge turnout to Sydney Airport and planespotter vantage points in July 2020 to farewell the airline’s last passenger jumbo jet, the Boeing 747.

Over 49 years, from 1971 to 2020, Qantas operated 64 of the four-engine jets known as the “Queen of the Skies”.

Two remain in Australia – at the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society museum at Wollongong and at the Qantas Founders’ Museum in Longreach – where they draw crowds and enthusiastic interest.

Former Qantas captain Mike Glynn said the 747-400 at HARS was so well preserved and maintained “you could almost fill it up with oil and fly it out of there”.

“It’s an enormous drawcard, and you can go up the stairs and sit in it. It’s a big people pleaser,” he said.

As for the rest of the former Qantas 747 fleet, six 747-200s went to United Airlines in the 1990s, another flew for Japan Airlines and Garuda Indonesia, some went to lessors including Jet ­Midwest and Alta Airline Holdings, and VH-OJK was bought by Nigerian airline Max Air, but is no longer in operation.

VH-OJU was snapped up by Rolls-Royce for use as a test bed, although it’s not clear if it ever was.

The strikingly painted Wunala Dreaming 747, registered VH-OEJ, found its way to American cargo airline Kalitta Air in 2022, which wanted to use the jumbo for spare parts. It was last seen stored engineless at Oscoda, Michigan in August last year.

The remainder are scattered around boneyards in California, Arizona and Mississippi, in a rather inglorious end.

A similar fate faced two Qantas A380s as the pandemic ended, with VH-OQE and VH-OQF scrapped out for parts, as the other 10 began the long process of being returned to service.

Mr Hill said the Qantas Founders Museum would have happily taken an A380 for show – even though the cost of parking it would be considerable.

Qantas 747s have been spread around the world, with two preserved at aviation museums in Australia. Picture: Qantas

“Even as a static display, the aircraft have to be washed, they have to eventually be painted every now and then, and we would have to extend the roof to protect them from the outback Queensland sun,” he said. “There’s a lot to consider when you take them on, and they do take a lot of real estate, but there’s no question people would love it.”

As for Qantas’s ageing A330s, the airline has given every indication it plans to milk a few more years out of the widebodies, with a major cabin retrofit to give the feeling of newness.

A similar approach is being taken with 42 “younger” Boeing 737-800s, to ensure they have an identical look and feel to the brand new A321XLRs due to start arriving from June.

It’s expected the remaining 737s operated by Qantas since the early 2000s will go to leasing companies, or Victorville, California, to be scrapped out for parts.

“An aeroplane can get to a point where maybe as a whole it’s not able to keep going but each of the components has a lifespan, and they might exceed that of the airframe,” said Mr Hill.

“In that instance, you give it to a wrecker and they can look at the parts individually and say, well that hydraulic pump still has 1000 hours of operation and it might end up in another airline’s aeroplane to keep it flying longer.

“The secondary parts market is big business in its own sense, but eventually you get to a point where there’s nothing left.”

Originally published as The airlines, museums and deserts where old Qantas 717 and Boeing 747 planes end up