Saudia, the national airline of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently transported three of its retired Boeing 777 aircraft from Jeddah Airport (JED) to Riyadh International Airport (RUH). There, they are to be stripped down of any useful parts with the fuselages then to be used for a new tourist attraction to be known as ‘Boulevard Runway’.
However, rather than ferrying the trio of widebodies on a short flight between the two airports, the aircraft were transported by road courtesy of some very large trucks.
According to photos posted on social media platform X, the almost-complete fuselages of the three aircraft were craned onto the trailers of the vehicles and were carried the 530 miles (850km) from the airport in Jeddah towards their final resting place in Riyadh. The aircraft involved are all Boeing 777-200ER variants which carried 341 passengers in their three-class cabins when in service with the carrier.
The first of the aircraft registered HZ-AKG is 26.6 years old and was delivered to the airline from Boeing in March 1998. It was withdrawn for service in September 2016 and has been in storage at Jeddah since then.
The second plane, registered HZ-AKK is 26.1 years old having first been delivered to the airline in September 1998. The plane was also withdrawn from service in September 2016 having served with the carrier for 18 years.
The final aircraft of the three is HZ-AKP. This aircraft was delivered new to Saudia in March 1999, making it 25.6 years old. It was taken out of regular passenger service in June 2017 making it the last of the three planes to see service with the carrier.
Photos posted on X show the three aircraft with wings, tails, and horizontal stabilizers removed with cranes being used to lift the carcasses of the aircraft onto the trailers for their ignominious final journeys.
The aircraft were all replaced in service with the carrier by larger Boeing 777-300ERs, of which the airline still operates 37, as well as more recently, Boeing 787-8s and 787-9s.
