AFP, Everett

Boeing marked its final commercial delivery of the 747, “the Queen of the Skies” on Tuesday at a ceremony commemorating an aircraft that democratised flying and serves US presidents.

Thousands of current and former employees, celebrities and aviation industry brass converged on Boeing’s plant in Everett, Washington, in the Northwestern part of the United States, a factory built for the assembly of the original “jumbo jet.”

The existing fleet of planes are expected to fly for decades more, but in ceasing 747 production more than 50 years after the aircraft’s first flight, Boeing is closing a chapter in the history of civil aviation.

John Diedrich, chief executive of Atlas Air, the cargo airline that purchased the final plane in the line, saluted the 747 as “the biggest, baddest commercial aircraft that’s flying out there.”

The celebration recounted the jet’s origins, setting its decades-long evolution to popular music and video footage.

Others who spoke included top executives with Lufthansa Airlines, engine maker Pratt & Whitney and the actor John Travolta, who is certified as a pilot for the 747.

The jet has a unique legacy with a significance to aviation that is difficult to overstate.