More than half a century after the Boeing 747 transformed long-haul travel, two aircraft representing very different chapters of the Jumbo Jet’s history have ended up side by side in southern Malaysia.
One began flying for Pan Am in 1970, the year the 747 entered commercial service. The other was delivered a decade later to Japan Airlines as a specialized high-capacity version designed for the extraordinary demands of Japan’s domestic air transport market.
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Both have now become part of the 1975 Avenue & Hotel in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, which began receiving guests in August after a project that took several years to complete.
The aircraft, incorporated into the property as Bove and Bey, contain 18 suites between them. But their history before becoming hotel rooms is considerably more interesting than their new interiors.
Boeing 747 from the beginning of the Jumbo era
The older aircraft is Boeing 747-121 MSN 19650, line number 24, making it one of the earliest production Jumbos.
It first flew in March 1970 and was delivered as N743PA to Pan American World Airways, although it initially spent several months leased to American Airlines before entering regular Pan Am service.
Known during parts of its career as Clipper Derby and later Clipper Black Sea, the aircraft remained with Pan Am until the early 1990s.
Its passenger career was followed by a very different second life. The aircraft was converted into a freighter and subsequently flew with Tower Air, carrying the registration N617FF, before later passing through Logistic Air and eventually becoming S2-AFA.
By 2010, after approximately four decades of flying, the 747 was out of service. It eventually reached Johor Bahru, where it remained for years before being incorporated into the hotel project.
Retired Boeing 747 becomes hotel in Malaysia | 1975 Avenue & Hotel 
Boeing 747 in front of the hotel | 1975 Avenue & Hotel 
Retired Boeing 747 becomes hotel in Malaysia | 1975 Avenue & Hotel 
Boeing Retired Boeing 747 becomes hotel in Malaysia in front of the hotel | 1975 Avenue & Hotel 
Retired Boeing 747 becomes hotel in Malaysia | 1975 Avenue & Hotel 
Retired Boeing 747 becomes hotel in Malaysia | 1975 Avenue & Hotel
Jumbo built for short flights
The second aircraft represents an unusual branch of the 747 family. JA8143, MSN 22067, was delivered to Japan Airlines in 1980 as a Boeing 747SR-146B. The SR, for Short Range, was developed specifically for the Japanese domestic market, where airlines needed to move enormous numbers of passengers between major cities rather than fly the long intercontinental sectors normally associated with the 747.
The aircraft incorporated structural changes intended to withstand the much higher number of takeoffs, landings and pressurization cycles generated by short-haul operations.
JA8143 could accommodate 533 passengers in its JAL configuration, with 22 premium and 511 economy seats — a remarkable capacity for an aircraft entering service in 1980.
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It spent 18 years with JAL before leaving the airline in 1998. Its subsequent career took it through several registrations and operators, including Logistic Air and Indonesian Airlines. It was eventually registered 5U-ACG and stored at Johor Bahru in 2009.
The former JAL aircraft was dismantled for transportation from the airport and moved to the hotel site in 2019.
That placed two aircraft that had begun their lives at opposite ends of the 747 mission spectrum in the same location: an early Pan Am Jumbo built around the intercontinental travel revolution of the 1970s and a Japanese SR optimized for repeated short sectors carrying more than 500 people at a time.
Neither will fly again, but both escaped the fate of most early 747s, which were eventually dismantled after retirement. After years sitting in Malaysia, the two aircraft have now opened to guests as permanent parts of the hotel.
