NAMYANGJU, South Korea — There will be no more takeoffs for the Juan T. Trippe.
The first 747 jetliner to carry commercial passengers, and a symbol of the golden age of air travel, was demolished Sunday as its owners gave up a frustrating decade-long attempt to make a profit from the mammoth piece of aviation history.
“So, you’ve come to take part in the funeral,” one of the owners, who asked that their names not be used, said to a bystander.
After decades of flying to nearly every continent, the Trippe, named after the Pam Am founder, was bought in 2000 from a California airplane graveyard by a South Korean couple, who transformed it into an aviation -themed restaurant. That venture failed in 2005.
Since then, the couple said they had unsuccessfully sought a buyer for the plane, which languished in a suburban lot 25 miles northeast of Seoul, its fuselage battered by the elements.
After spending $1 million for the plane and $100,000 more to dismantle and ship it to South Korea, the couple, who run a noodle restaurant on the property, finally punched the plane’s final ticket Sunday.
On a cold afternoon, two cranes straddled the big jet, their jaws ripping into its fuselage as workers on the ground sifted through the plane’s wreckage looking for scrap materials.
