747SP Boeing American Airlines747SP American Airlines airplane model. The SP suffix in 747SP stands for Special Performance, and points to the ultra long range abilities of this 747 variant that preceded the current 747 400 by 15 years. The 747SP's range is best illustrated by the spate of long range distance records it set in the mid 1970s. The most prominent of those was the delivery flight of a South African Airways SP, which over March 23 24 1976 flew nonstop with 50