Here are the retirement dates for the British Airways Boeing 747 fleet

Here are the retirement dates for the British Airways Boeing 747 fleet.

It is based on internal BA data on the retirement plan for the fleet.  At present British Airways has 34 Boeing 747 aircraft.  13 of those are scheduled for retirement by November 2022 and have not been refurbished.  These will retire in stages from July 2019, at which point they will be between 21 and 28 years old.

The remaining 21 aircraft will soldier on for a while but are expected to depart by February 2024 if new aircraft deliveries are on time.

What will replace them?  BA has 12 Boeing 787-10 aircraft on order for delivery in 2020 and 2023, as well as three additional Boeing 777-300ER (two this year and one next year) and of course the 12 new Airbus A350-1000 planes which arrive this year and will feature the new Club World seat.

These 27 aircraft will not fully replace the 34 retiring aircraft.  As our article on the oneworld 20th anniversary press conference on Friday mentioned, BA is still interested in more A380 planes if Airbus will sell them at a price which the airline considers acceptable.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.