Boeing 747 jumbo jet gets a lifeline after UPS orders 14 cargo planes

The long goodbye for Boeing's iconic 747 jetliner is turning out to be a little premature.

The planemaker won a $US5.65 billion ($A7.12 billion) lifeline for the endangered jumbo as United Parcel Service exercised options for 14 more of the freighters. The deal came weeks after Delta Air Lines parked the last of its 747 aircraft, marking the end of US passenger service for the iconic humpbacked plane nicknamed the Queen of the Skies.

The UPS order rewards Boeing's optimism that the venerable jet, which transformed air travel when it debuted in 1970, would live on as a cargo-hauler. The courier is also taking four Boeing 767 freighters as it rushes to keep up with growing demand and parlays gains from the recent U.S. corporate tax cut into stepped-up investment.

"The biggest reason we decided to expand is, one, we had an option on the 14, and with the tax reform that came in, it made us more optimistic that the economy was going to continue to be clicking," said UPS Chief Executive Officer David Abney.

The hulking jumbos, built to carry a 124.9-tonne payload, are needed as UPS expands its network to profit from burgeoning air shipments in China and other Asian markets. The Atlanta-based company plans to use the 747-8 freighters on heavily trafficked "trunk routes" between the US and China and between China and its European hub, Abney said in an interview.

All 32 of the new Boeing jets will be delivered by the end of 2022, adding more than 4 million kilograms of cargo capacity, UPS said. The company's global airline network includes more than 500 owned and leased aircraft. UPS received three new 747-8 freighters in 2017.

UPS's appetite for the 747 means Boeing will continue producing its largest aircraft into the 2020s, more than half a century after the plane started whisking passengers across oceans. As sales slowed, the manufacturer had insisted that a long-awaited rebound in the air-cargo market would spark new interest in the jumbo freighter. The hinged nose of the jet flips open so that large, bulky items such as oil-drilling equipment can be loaded quickly.