This was the second of the three aircraft originally ordered by South African Airways on July 16, 1974. It was the eighth 747SP to be built but was the seventh aircraft to fly. It was rolled out of the Boeing plant on February 24, 1976 with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7FW engines. Entered onto the South African Aircraft Register as ZS-SPB she flew for the first time on March 10, 1976.

Once accepted by South African Airways at Paine Field on April 22, 1976 it departed on a more leisurely flight to Cape Town, South Africa than her sister aircraft the previous month. It entered service shortly thereafter named 'Outeniqua' configured to seat 8 First Class, 28 Business Class and 224 Economy Class passengers. With the delivery of this aircraft South African Airways commenced a weekly service on the Johannesburg - New York route which saved over 2.5 hours on the existing Johannesburg - Rio de Janeiro - New York service.

It appeared on April 01, 1984 with additional '1934-1984' titles to mark the airline's 50th Anniversary.

In preparation for a short-term lease to Air Malawi it was withdrawn from use and entered the hanger for repainting into their livery on April 02, 1985. Entered onto the Malawi Aircraft Register as 7Q-YKL it was wet-leased to Air Malawi on April 12, 1985. Named 'Mulanje' it departed Johannesburg the following day as QM152 for London carrying the Malawi President, Mr H. K. Banda. Returned to South African Airways on May 11 it was repainted in the SAA livery and returned to the South African Register as ZS-SPB. It resumed SAA service on May 29, 1985 flying Johannesburg - Cape Town - Frankfurt return.

On November 01, 1987 it was leased to Luxair having been registered as LX-LGX. It was returned to SAA in Johannesburg on September 02, 1993 when the lease was terminated. Resuming its registration as ZS-SPB it was leased to Trek Airways the following day in Luxair livery. Wearing 'Luxavia Star' cabin titles and 'Trek' tail titles it arrived in Luxembourg on September 4th. It was returned to SAA on April 11, 1994.

On March 30, 1996 it was leased to Cameroon Airlines whilst their Boeing 747 Combi was being overhauled at Johannesburg. This lease was terminated on May 05, 1996. The following day ZS-SPB was leased to Air Afrique in basic SAA livery without titles for Hadj flights before being returned on May 9th.

Sold to Panair on June 25, 1996 it entered the South African Airways hangar for repainting into Air Namibia livery in preparation for its next lease. Rolled out in full Air Namibia livery on July 11, 1996 it was delivered to them on July 15th. On the termination of this lease it was returned to SAA on December 24, 1996. Leased to South African Airways the aircraft was put back into service in the basic Air Namibia livery without titles. A full repaint in the new South African livery commenced on January 01, 1997.

On February 10, 1999 it entered the paintshop at Johannesburg for painting into an all-white livery in preparation for its return to Panair. Observed at Miami in the all-white livery on July 01, 1999 it was handed over to Panair. It was cancelled from the South African Aircraft Register on July 23, 1999. It was observed at Marana in the all-white livery without titles on October 10, 1999. It was entered onto the United States Aircraft Register as N747KV on July 25, 2004.

Sold to Jet Aero Holdings, Inc. on August 23, 2004 it was quickly listed as being 'For Sale'. It seems that no one was interested in buying this aircraft for by February 08, 2005 it had been moved to the scrapping area at Marana. It was observed shortly thereafter with its flight control surfaces removed and the cargo doors cut away. It was finally scrapped on April 01, 2005 having flown a total of 61,048 hours with 10,504 cycles.