Albion Park airport is the front runner in a bid to find a retirement home for Qantas' record-setting first Boeing 747-400.
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The jumbo jet, registration VH-OJA, made history on August 17, 1989, when it became the first passenger plane to link England and Australia in a non-stop flight.
Its 17,850-kilometre delivery journey from London to Sydney smashed the previous 16,556-kilometre flight record set by a South African Airways jet that flew from Seattle to Cape Town, and still stands today.
The plane's registration will expire on January 15.
"It would be a major tourist attraction for the Illawarra, unique in the world.''
Bob de la Hunty, president of the Illawarra Regional Airport-based HARS Museum, confirmed Qantas had approached the museum to house the aircraft as a non-operational exhibit.
The bid is the subject of a risk assessment by Shellharbour City Council and is assessed against "cost and operations issues".
"The final decision hasn't been made as to whether it might end up here," Mr de la Hunty said.
"I think it would be a major tourist attraction for the Illawarra, unique in the world.
"We certainly think it's a great idea to bring it here as long as we get the support from council."
Kiama aviation historian Bob Smith said landing and keeping a jumbo jet at Albion Park airport would be complex tasks.
A 747 had sunk into the sand at the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach, Queensland, because the tarmac was too soft to support a jumbo jet, he said.
VH-OJA, currently in the United States, would need to depart Sydney with a minimal amount of fuel, to lower its weight and decrease its landing run.
"[Landing at Albion Park] will be tight," said Mr Smith, of the website aussieairliners.org.
"I have heard that, provided everything goes according to plan, they'll end up with about 250 metres of runway at the end.
"She could certainly come in, but she'll never get out again."
Retired aircraft that are not sent to museums end up in boneyards or are used for scrap.
Mr Smith said VH-OJA would "dwarf" all other aircraft at HARS, and would boost visits to the museum's monthly open days, the next of which are January 9-11.
"One of the things they do up at Longreach is the wing walk, where visitors are cabled up and can walk across the wing of the 747. It's not something members of the public can normally do and is a huge drawcard."