News and notes from around the interweb:
- The oldest planes still in commercial service there’s a Boeing 737 that’s been flying for over 47 years!
- Air India will continue to fly the Boeing 747
- FAA reveals surprising threat to airline safety, military GPS tests
- United will outsource catering operations it has currently done in-house
United said it has selected three suppliers to operate the airline’s five kitchens and oversee menu design and administration.
The airline’s staff were informed of the decision in a memo reviewed by Reuters. Employees in good standing would be offered a job at one of the future suppliers and about 70% would continue to have union representation, according to the memo.
- How coronavirus infects cells, and what’s unique about the Delta variant
- Owner of abandoned Holiday Inn in court for not tearing the property down
I wonder what the oldest planes for commonly flown US carriers are?
Maybe Delta 757-200 and a few A320’s, United 777-200 and 757-200, AA 737-800 and 777-200ER’s and Southwest 737-700’s?
I throw Buffalo Airways into the mix with their DC 3 and 4 cargo flights
The oldest people still flying in commercial service: American Airlines flight attendants.
Air Chathams, NZ, is still flying at least one Convair 580 in regular scheduled service, although it’s about to be retired. The plane dates from around 1953 or 54, originally built (probably as CV340 or CV440) and retrofitted with Allison turboprops. And a handful of airworthy DC3s are still around.
I’m sure Buffalo Airways out of Yellowknife NWT Canada are still running DC3’s. Which, I believe represents the ideal passenger load factor to minimize risk from other passengers @$$holery. Check out Ice Pilot if it is still on Netflix or (?).
Back when there was an NWA, I had the pleasure of flying in one of their last DC3’s.
The crew dressed in correct period uniforms, with “stewardesses” in below-knee skirts and flight caps. The naugahide seats were huge (by current standards) and there were curtains on the windows.
I thought I had stepped into a twilight zone episode.
Next stop, Willoughby.
The list of old airframes put most of them flying for companies located on a line from Iran through southern Asia. The exceptions were a Dash 8 flying for Swiftair (Spain, I presume), a 757 for Jet2 (UK), an A320 for Lift (South Africa), a Dash-8 for Skytrans (Australia), and, the oldest of them all, the 737-200 for Nolinor.
Now, the post says that the 737 is ten years older than the next oldest passenger liner, but it doesn’t say why. Nor does it mention that there’s more than one 737-200 from the seventies flying passengers in Canada. The reason? The 737-200 has been certified with a gravel kit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravel_kit), which you just don’t find on later 737s, A320s or most modern jets, for that matter.
@Zebraitis – That’s amazing. Thanks so much for the memory. I’d love to have seen that.