Boeing's 747 prepares for final send-off

The last commercial Boeing 747 will be delivered to Atlas Air in the surviving freighter version on Tuesday, 53 years after it grabbed global attention as a Pan Am passenger jet.

The 747 more than doubled plane capacity to 350 to 400 seats when it first took off New York on Jan 22, 1970, in turn reshaping airport design.

Designed in the late 1960s to meet the demand for mass travel, the world's first twin-aisle wide-body jetliner's nose and the upper deck became the world's most luxurious club above the clouds.

According to Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith, the 747 was the airplane that introduced flying for the middle class in the US.

Smith noted that before the 747, the average family couldn't fly from the U.S. to Europe affordably.