QANTAS 747438 VHOJA (City of Canberra) on its final revenue service from Sydney International Terminal on Sunday 7 December 2014, QF107 to Los Angeles. Last pushback was at 1155 hours from Bay 8 and took off on Runway 16R.

VH OJA was QANTAS' first Boeing 747400 and was named City of Canberra.

It was delivered to QANTAS on 11 August 1989 and made its debut flight on 16 August 1989 from London to Sydney.

The aircraft was Boeing's 12th 747400 to be built.

On Thursday 17 August 1989, it set the record for having flown the longest nonstop flight (London to Sydney) of any commercial airline (flight number QF7441).

The historic flight took 20 hours, 9 minutes and 5 seconds or 18,001km.

Because of the necessity to keep weight to a minimum to allow it to fly for so long, over two tonnes of nonessential equipment (palate locks, water boilers, etc.) were removed from the aircraft.

Only 23 people were on the aircraft. Mainly QANTAS staff monitoring the delivery with their baggage even travelling on another aircraft (QF2 from LondonSingaporeSydney).

183.5 tonnes of fuel accounted for more than half the takeoff weight.

Special dense fuel was created by Shell, which provided an extra 4% energy per litre of fuel.

The flight and subsequent media attention around the world at the time underlined QANTAS' role as the leader in longrange commercial aviation.

When QANTAS helped establish the "Kangaroo route" (London to Sydney) in 1935, it took up to 14 days to complete the journey via five different aircraft types, three airlines and two railways.

All of QANTAS' 747400 were named "Longreach" as a tribute to their place of origin and to demonstrate the longrange of the aircraft.

Because of its historical significance, QANTAS will gift the aircraft to a museum in Australia. It will be announced which museum over the coming weeks.

QANTAS Boeing 747 facts:
QANTAS has had 65 747's in its fleet (34 x 747 Classics and 31 747400's) since 1971.

QANTAS currently has 13 B747400 aircraft, including VHOJA.

The 747's have carried over 242 million passengers since 1971 on over 290,000 flights.

They have flown around 3.5 billion kilometres which is equivalent to 4,455 return trips to the moon.

The length of the 747400 is 70.7m, wingspan of 64.4m, cruising speed of 920km/h and can carry up to 371 passengers and crew.

VH OJA Facts
25.3 years in service.

13, 835 flights

105,895 flight hours logged

4,094,588 passengers carried

This aircraft has flown nearly 85 million km, which is equivalent to 110 trips to the moon.

Ferried Seattle Las Vegas as BOE551 August 11, 1989

Accepted by Qantas at Las Vegas August 11, 1989

Ferried Las Vegas Vancouver as QF510 August 11, 1989

Ferried Vancouver Seattle (Boeing Field) as QF511 (Captain D. MasseyGreene) August 12, 1989

Ferried Seattle London (Heathrow) as QF512 (Captain D. MasseyGreene) August 13, 1989

Departed London (Heathrow) as QF7441 on delivery flight August 16, 1989

Arrived Sydney at conclusion of delivery flight August 17, 1989

Delivery route: Seattle London Sydney
Flight crew: Captains D. MasseyGreene, R. Heiniger, G. Greenop, G. Lindeman

Additional titles 'We Go Further' applied after the nonstop delivery flight in Sydney

Operated first revenue service Sydney Melbourne Sydney as QF28/QF001 September 6, 1989

Operated first international revenue service Sydney Auckland Sydney as QF43/QF44 September 7, 1989

Wet leased by Ansett Australia to cover temporary loss of 747 VHINH October 22 23, 1994

Operated Ansett Australia services Sydney Kansai Brisbane Sydney.