It’s not often that an airline draws attention to a late flight, as was the case on Sunday when an El Al jumbo jet from Rome to Tel Aviv landed 95 minutes after it had been scheduled to arrive.

The flight, 1747, had taken a circuitous route over the Mediterranean Sea, not because of weather, air traffic or geopolitical reasons.

No, this was the retirement flight for the Boeing 747, the double-decker workhorse of El Al’s fleet since 1971. El Al is replacing the 747 with Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliner, which is more fuel-efficient. To mark the end of the era, the pilot zigged and zagged, following a route shaped like the 747. Call it sky art.

The pilot traced the wings, tail and four engines of the jumbo jet, referred to as the Queen of the Sky, southwest of Cyprus before returning to a more conventional easterly route, flight trackers showed.