oldest commercial aircraft

Oldest Commercial Aircraft - Airbus announced that it would end production of the A380 a few years ago and roll off the production line this year to launch the final aircraft.

248 A380s have been delivered since entering production in 2003, with the first order placed in October 2007, fourteen years ago.

Oldest Commercial Aircraft

Boeing recently announced the end of production of its 747 in 2022… even though its lifespan spans an impressive 50 years with over 1500 deliveries.

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Which got me thinking; Are the oldest airplanes still flying commercially? Are any 50-year-old 747s still in service?

I searched for every major aircraft type still flying using the airfleets.net production list. airfleets.net reports aircraft status with the latest recorded flights, however, it appears that these dates are manually submitted by users (some are very old). So I checked the date with flightradar24.com.

Aircraft are considered still in service if flying in 2020; My guess is that many were temporarily out of service due to reduced air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only aircraft with first flight before 1990 are considered.

Older 747s and A300s seem to be leaving service quickly, relatively speaking: the oldest planes still flying are 14 years older than the models that first flew.

Kc 46a Tanker

In contrast, the 737 has had significant longevity, with some older versions still in service, with the model only 6 years after its first commercial flight (and first delivered before the 747 and A300).

C-GNLK, a 737 currently operated by Nolinor Aviation has been flying for over 47 years, almost 10 years longer than any other model.

The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and MD-11 didn't end up on this list, but only because I considered commercial airlines carrying passengers. Currently, these aircraft are operated only by the Air Force and logistics companies. FedEx operates N303FE, a DC-10 that is 48.1 years old.

I have only included the major manufacturers that I know of that are listed on AirFleets. It would be worth checking if there are any airlines that fly other manufacturers that I don't know about (I suspect there might be some in Russia).

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Finally, I considered only one shot of each model. Note that 26% of all commercial aircraft are 737s; These older models will still be flying a lot more. Would you feel uncomfortable flying in an airplane built in 1974? Harold Wilson was enjoying his second stint at Number 10, the band Queen were in full swing, man's first tiny step on the surface of the moon was relatively fresh in memory. And 1974 was the year a Boeing 737-200, serial number 20836, made its first flight for Transavia Airlines, based in the Netherlands.

Forty-eight years later, Harold Wilson breaks this death spiral, as does Freddy, when NASA hopes to start a colony on Mars. But 20836 remains strong in the services of Nolinor Aviation, a Canadian charter airline under registration C-GNLK.

His journey from Holland to Quebec was arduous, crossing five continents. After leaving the Dutch low-cost airline in 1977, he moved to Saudia, then Aerolíneas Argentinas. Next was the defunct Australian Airlines, followed by Air Florida, another former airline. Alaska-based MarkAir (also defunct) came later before serving as a cargo plane. In 2004, he visited Peru. In 2006, it was bought by the short-lived Italian airline Volliamo. In 2008, Cityline Hungary, which ceased trading in 2015, acquired 737 Shaft.

Since 2014, however, it has been in the service of the smaller Nolinor Aviation, based in Mirabel, a suburb of Montreal, which serves several domestic destinations with a fleet of 18 aircraft. At 48 years old, it is the world's oldest passenger aircraft still in service, according to the Airfleets.net database

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So do you feel safe on board? Reliability of older aircraft sometimes increases, such as in 2017 when a 31-year-old Jet 2 aircraft, a 737, made two emergency landings in a matter of weeks.

Passengers were never at risk, Jet2 said, but commenters were quick to point out the plane's age. Registered as G-CELI, it was built for Lufthansa in 1986, making it almost as old as this reporter. And these problems signaled the end of her many years of service: two months after the incident, G-CELI was placed in storage and then decommissioned in 2020 "due to on-board failure" and "unsuccessful" repairs.

The oldest aircraft in the Jet2 fleet is currently G-LSAI, a 35-year-old 757. On 10 April 2017, with 238 people on board, it bounced on landing at Alicante Airport, suffering a tail strike and extensive damage on what was the co-pilot's last training flight, but returned to the skies in June of that year.

So can older planes suffer from problems? Not according to Patrick Smith, an American pilot and author of Cockpit Confidential

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"Commercial planes are built more or less indefinitely, which is one of the reasons they're so expensive," he told Travel. "It is common for an aircraft to be in service for 25 years or more."

Smith added that as planes age, they come under more and more scrutiny. "Inspection criteria are getting stricter," he said.

Still, maintaining and operating an aircraft as prestigious as Nolinor's 737 is rare. According to Airfleets.net, which keeps records of 43 models, the only older aircraft are still in the hands of cargo companies and the Air Force. For example, Caspian Airlines has a 52-year-old 747 (registration: EP-CQB) that once belonged to TWA and is used to transport cargo, but not people.

Conviasa, a Venezuelan passenger airline, has a 737 (registration: YV3434) since 1976, Canada-based Air Inuit has one, which was born in 1978, RUTACA, another Venezuelan airline, has one since 1981.

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Tehran-based Mahan Air has had an A300 since 1984, for example, and is the oldest 747 still in use for passenger service (EP-MNB, born 1989), while Zagros Airlines, also based in Iran, has a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 from 1985. Made in Miami-based Little Eastern Airlines (formerly Dynamic Airways) has a 38-year-old 767, registration N605KW.

In all likelihood you will not fly with any of these minnows, but go a little closer to the present day and the big boys will soon appear.

Among the major players, Delta has some of the oldest aircraft. Its 841 fleet has an average age of 14.8 years, and includes a clutch of 33-year-old 757s and 32-year-old 767s.

The average age of BA's fleet is 12.9 years, down from 13.7 before the Covid pandemic, and its oldest aircraft is a 777, registration G-VIID, which it acquired in 1997.

Oldest Airlines Still Operating In The World

So, have you flown any of these venerable birds? It's easy to find, thanks to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

Jet2's 35-year-old 757, G-LSAI, flew a single flight last week from Manchester to Ibiza, Gran Canaria and Antalya. Delta's oldest aircraft, registration N658DL, flies in and out of Atlanta. The G-VIID, BA's most majestic Boeing, has recently flown to New York, Riyadh, Bermuda and Tel Aviv.

However, there is another option for older aircraft enthusiasts. The Airfleets.net database is not comprehensive, and does not include charter and small touring outfits. Like Netherlands-based DDA Classic Airlines, which offers aviation enthusiasts recreational flights in the DC-3, a model that has been out of service since the 1950s.

Or, closer to home, there's Classic Wings, which takes you from IWM Duxford to the seat of a Spitfire, the aircraft's signature manoeuvre, ending in a victory lap. Now this will probably make you uncomfortable. People have flown in decades old planes and they will never know the difference. Sometimes old school is the best school, and after one look at this collection of the oldest commercial passenger jets in service, it's hard to disagree.

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Older model airplanes were designed at a time when oil was incredibly cheap compared to modern times. It would be unthinkable for an airline to make a profit with the Boeing 707 these days.

So why do some airlines keep some old planes in service? Some airlines even buy an entire fleet of a certain type in the case of Nolinor Aviation and its Boeing 737-200 fleet.

Airplanes can last longer than cars, for example - for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the planes are easy to maintain and are always maintained following a strict maintenance schedule. Pilots are trained specifically for their aircraft and will not make silly mistakes that will damage the useful life of the aircraft.

There are several reasons why airlines keep older aircraft in service. One place where vintage aircraft often operate is in remote areas of Canada. There are remote settlements as well as mining operations that require constant transport of people and goods to and from.

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Permafrost in this region of northern Canada makes it impossible to build

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