This could be the world’s shortest-ever Boeing 747 flight

The aircraft was being put into retirement

British Airways yesterday retired one of its 747s (British Airways)

Is this the shortest-ever Boeing 747 flight?

British Airways flew a 25-year-old 747, the iconic aircraft known as the Queen of the Skies, just four miles yesterday.

Flight BA9172 was flying from Cardiff to St Athan, the location of an engineering base, for the aircraft to be retired.

However, this wasn’t a commercial flight. There were no passengers onboard on the jet, registration G-CIVG, which was delivered in April 1995.

The entire journey, which comprised a loop from Cardiff airport around the towns of Barry and Penarth, took just 21 minutes, according to flight tracking data.

British Airways, the world’s largest operator of the aircraft, has pledged to retire its ageing 747s by 2024. Half the fleet is being phased out by 2021.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “As part of our £6.5 billion customer investment, we are receiving 73 brand new aircraft over the next five years including our new Airbus A350 and Boeing 787.

“As we are receiving these new aircraft we're retiring our long-serving ones after many years of flying our customers around the world.”

British Airways is in a period of fleet modernisation. In July, the airline’s first Airbus A350 landed at London Heathrow, which also featured the British flag carrier’s new business class cabin, called Club Suite.

Last week British Airways announced its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner would debut in February.