LGWflyer From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2011, 2348 posts, RR: 1 Posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 27495 times:
I have been searching out of interest today about which is the oldest aircraft currently flying commercially for an airline throughout the world and have seemed to have found a possible winner. But if anyone knows an even older aircraft then please share.
The oldest aircraft I have found which is still flying as of February 2012 is 5Y-XXB a DC-9 flying for Fly540 in Kenya. The aircraft in question is almost 47 years old and first flew on 5th June 1965, and is the 4th DC-9 ever built.
wedgetail737 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 5531 posts, RR: 5 Reply 1, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 27464 times:
I think Buffalo Airways of Canada still flies a DC-3 commercially on scheduled service.
bigbird From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 147 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 26884 times:
5Y-XXB is probably the oldest jet airliner still flying in airline service but it doesn t hold a candle to all of the DC-3 s, DC-4 s, DC-6 s, and C-46 s that are still in service in Canada and Alaska.
YVRLTN From Canada, joined Oct 2006, 2091 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 26837 times:
Here in Canada there are also several Noorduyn Norseman's in service which are from the 1930's.
However, if you call flying tourists over the Grand Canyon flying commercially, you cant beat the Scenic Airlines For Tri-Motor which was built in 1929. That being said, I dont know what its current status is and it was parked away in the hangar in Valle when I was there back in April last year.
LGWflyer From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2011, 2348 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 26344 times:
I completely forgot about all the DC-3'S etc... I suppose I should have asked what is the oldest jet airliner in the world still flying instead. Anyway thanks everyone for replying.
mainMAN From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2005, 2064 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 26278 times:
Not to mention Lufthansa's Junkers Ju 52 from 1936, which operates regular flights around Germany. Off topic again, but this is well worth the 100 odd quid for a ride round Berlin.
AA737-823 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 5340 posts, RR: 11 Reply 8, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 26037 times:
USAJet is still flying another very old DC-9, which spent time with Midwest Express.... I almost want to say it's line number 2, but I may be wrong there...
jetfuel From Australia, joined Jan 2005, 2066 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 25990 times:
Quoting AA737-823 (Reply 9): USAJet is still flying another very old DC-9, which spent time with Midwest Express.... I almost want to say it's line number 2, but I may be wrong there...
Construction Number (MSN) 45718
Line Number 17
Aircraft Type McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15
First Flight 09-12-1965
Age 46.2 Years
kl5147 From Netherlands, joined Aug 2005, 301 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 25900 times:
Quoting AA737-823 (Reply 9): USAJet is still flying another very old DC-9, which spent time with Midwest Express
It began it's carreer with KLM as PH-DNA "City of Amsteram".
I would be great to see it back in NL as flying heritage. But since the demise of the Aviodrome museum, the chance to see that happen will be zero I think
SASMD82 From Netherlands, joined Mar 2007, 549 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 25638 times:
Long live the DC-9!
Quoting jetfuel (Reply 10): You wont find an A320 flying at this age
Nope, like most planes that are produced at the moment. The A320 was build for - I think - 65.000 hours of flying time. The old DCs were built to last forever!
LGWflyer From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2011, 2348 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 25270 times:
Quoting AA737-823 (Reply 9): USAJet is still flying another very old DC-9, which spent time with Midwest Express.... I almost want to say it's line number 2, but I may be wrong there...
Yeah that was the second oldest aircraft I could find, only about 4 months newer than the top one. Brilliant they last that long, hopefully we'll see both reach the big 50!
ASA From Bangladesh, joined Dec 2010, 387 posts, RR: 2 Reply 15, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 25077 times:
If we bring in widebodies into the discussion,
The DC-10-30s still flying with Biman Bangladesh Airlines will probably be worth mentioning. The oldest in their active inventory (S2-ACO) seems to be flying since 1978 ... (first 5 years with SG and then transferred to BG).
LGWflyer From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2011, 2348 posts, RR: 1 Reply 23, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 22480 times:
Okay because the test aircraft don't really count I'll replace the test aircraft, but I'll have to do it in this post as I can't edit the previous posts over 60mins.
A320 - JY-JAC - Jordan Aviation - 23 Years 1 Month - First Flight 5 January 1989
Okay that should be all the test aircraft replaced above by these aircraft which are active and technically take the top spot as the oldest aircraft for each type flying for an airline in the world as of February 2012.
einsteinboricua From Puerto Rico, joined Apr 2010, 2043 posts, RR: 6 Reply 24, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 22326 times:
Quoting LGWflyer (Reply 24): Okay that should be all the test aircraft replaced above by these aircraft which are active and technically take the top spot as the oldest aircraft for each type flying for an airline in the world as of February 2012.
What about Soviet aircraft? There are plenty of small operators around Central Asia and Russia which still use Tupolev, Antonov, Yakolev, and Ilyushin.
"You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky."
25 LGWflyer: Okay I'll do them also. First i'll finish Embraer's etc...
26 Cyanide72: A very interesting thread, looking forward to seeing the rest of the contenders.
27 LGWflyer: ERJ-145 Family - PR-PFN - Policia Fedeal - 16 Years - First Flight 14 February 1996 ERJ-170 - FAC-1181 - SATENA - 9 Years 7 Months - First Flight 19 J
28 LGWflyer: Yes thank you, I'll carry it more on soon.
29 falstaff: I think they were built around 1976, which isn't all that old. DL has some DC-9-50s that are the same age. A fine ex TWA bird.
43 Max Q: LGW flyer, tremendous work there, you must have done a lot of research. Fascinating post, great job !
44 LGWflyer: Cheers!!! Yes quite a bit of researching but I don't mind because I love stuff like this, its very interesting!
45 fanofjets: They are late-build Boeing 707s. They were also originally built for the Iranian Air Force; thus, their lives as commercial airliners are quite recen
46 Shany: While they are still famous for their 80s cars, some of which were built to last, their current products certainly aren't. Great list. Great you adap
47 fanofjets: Here's my contender for the oldest widebody: Boeing 747-121 was delivered new to Pan Am in March 1970, as Clipper Derby (N743PA). Aside from a six-mon
48 SEA: And then there's the part where the A320 wasn't around 50 years ago too...
49 ltbewr: What about the DC-8 ? There must be a few 40 year old fames still running as freighers with ATI, others
51 LGWflyer: Ilyushin Il-18 - RA-75713 - NPP Mir - Between 43-47 Years - First Flight 1965-1969? (Very hard aircraft to find out about) View Large View MediumPhoto
52 atct: N44587 and N272R both 1944 model Dc-3's are flying daily for Desert Air Alaska during the summer and when the weather is nice here in the winter. Anch
53 LGWflyer: Thank you! Yeah a good idea! I was also thinking of doing sub category's for the likes of each series of aircraft also like say the 747 with the 100,
55 warden145: That would be great! Also, if you're able to find anything for the 707 and 727, I for one would greatly appreciate it...although I recall you saying
56 Boeingorbust: I wish there was someone still flying the VC-10 after all these years... Only the RAF gets the privilege of that now!
57 LGWflyer: I am just having a look now for the oldest 727 still flying today, oldest one I found so far was the 52nd 727 ever built way back in June 1964! Im su
58 LGWflyer: Okay it has taken me ages and ages to find info on the pair of the very oldest 707 and 727 still flying. I don't think I could find any more older one
59 aircellist: Great thread! Lots of fun! LGWflyer, many thanks! ... Will you eventually get to the prop types that would have been flying in the 40s of even 30s? ..
60 EMBQA: 145.003 is flying with a company in Brazil Satena has since turned the plane back to its leasing company and the aircraft is now in storage 190.0002
61 Squid: The early Douglas, Boeing and Convair jets were over engineered because of what happened with the Comet 1 disasters. These early aircraft were design
62 LGWflyer: Thank you!!! Im glad your enjoying it! Yeah I will defiently get to the 30's and 40's, first aircraft I will look for is the DC-3 as many people have
63 warden145: As Joe Patroni put it when describing the 707, "Take the wings off this and you could use it as a tank!" I know that overengineering and overbuilding
64 LGWflyer: Ahh no prob! Interesting, I bet that 52 year old 707 has had more liveries and new registrations than about 100 aircraft combined haha!!! What aircra
65 Bralo20: That's a 707-329 not an 707-146, it's an old SN plane
66 LGWflyer: Yep I know it is a 329. Also I mistyped, it should be 140/4X-JYT which is part of the serial/reg on the 707 while flying for the Israeli Air Force. I
67 Viscount724: It's also unusual in being one of only a couple of early 707-320s built with JT4A turbojet engines that were re-engined with JT3D turbofans. Believe
68 Flyingsottsman: I would add Iran Air's 747SPs and their 742 they are still flying.
69 LGWflyer: I just had a look at their fleet, they also have 3 727's in the fleet which I did not know off and are the oldest aircraft. This 727 below is the old
70 sovietjet: I think the Israeli 707 technically should be off the list since it is military . And the same with the Russian air force Il-86. Saha's 707s keep gett
71 LGWflyer: Yeah I guess your right, but they were still worth a mention as there are very little left and the info if any is real hard to find! Sometimes milita
72 kl5147: Looking forward to it. You are making a great topic/thread. Compliments!
73 LGWflyer: Oldest 747 by series flying in Feb 2012: B747-100 Series - 5-8101 - Iran Air Force - 42 Years 6 Months - First Flight 13 July 1969 - No airline flying
75 warden145: Looking forward to it...I've said it before, but thank you again!!
76 LGWflyer: Great, thanks! I have been searching for quite a long time for the oldest active DC-8's, probably the one or the hardest aircraft types to find out a
77 connies4ever: I believe Buffalo Joe's personal mount was built in 1943 as a C-47 for the USAAF. Still flies M-F Yellowknife - Hay River. Seen quite often on "Ice P
78 MD-90: Wow, none of the 1980s An-124s are still flying? How about the L-1011?
79 milesrich: . Unfortunately, one of Chalk's plane's wings literally folded which is what caused the airline to be permanently grounded. I don't like to use Wikip
81 fanofjets: Boeing 747-121 was delivered new to Pan Am in March 1970, as Clipper Derby (N743PA). Aside from a six-month lease to American, she remained with PAA
82 Viscount724: Must be one of the only scheduled DC-3 services left anywhere in the world. I'm pretty sure it's the only one in North America. The 45-minute YHY-YZF
83 flightsimer: Anyone know what the oldest DHC-6 is? first flight was in 65...
84 longhauler: Thank you for your efforts. Makes, great reading.
85 LGWflyer: Hello! I don't know if you mean the very oldest one which was first built or the oldest flying today so i'll find both aircraft so I can hopefully an
86 connies4ever: Yes, it's definitely the only scheduled pax DC-3 in NA. But I'm pretty sure you can still find them in SA & Africa.
87 YVRLTN: I believe 8P still have up to four of these flying, thes oldest was built in 1940, which is 72 years old. The youngest was built in 1944. a sprighlty
88 UK_Dispatcher: 5Y-XXB has actually not flown for the past couple of years and has been stripped for parts to keep 5Y-XXA flying. It is currently languishing in the
89 bestwestern: Some of the first Fokker 27s and fokker 28s must be still flying. I have really enjoyed this thread.
90 connies4ever: My bad ... I overlooked those. Pen Air in Alaska has a couple as well, I believe, same vintage.
91 LGWflyer: Oh right interesting, thanks for the info. Yeah, i'll see what Fokker 27/28's are still around. And also that's great to here, glad you are enjoying
92 atct: Evergreen Intl is still flying the -100. I just saw one a few days ago here in ANC. Clint
93 71Zulu: ? Thought the supertanker is their only -100?
94 Viscount724: I believe Evergreen only has one 747-100 left, converted to a tanker to fight forest fires. Originally delivered to DL in 1970. After DL disposed of
95 71Zulu: What about Kalitta? rzjets says still have N709CK N712CK N717CK all-100's
97 TrnsWrld: I think its pretty incredible that the two DC-9's mentioned in this thread (USAjet and Kenya) both still look to be in incredible condition. Relativel
98 Spacepope: Maybe stored? Last time I saw any -100 on Flightaware was a alitta flight, doing the twice daily HNL-LAX roundtrip, but that was long before Thanksgi
99 milesrich: Douglas made robust airplanes, and the DC-9 was designed with such flexibility that it could be stretched etc into the -80, the MD-90, and the Boeing
Sponsor Message: 
From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2011, 2348 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 5531 posts, 
From Canada, joined Oct 2006, 2091 posts, 
From Australia, joined Jan 2005, 2066 posts, 
From Netherlands, joined Aug 2005, 301 posts, 
From Bangladesh, joined Dec 2010, 387 posts, 
From Puerto Rico, joined Apr 2010, 2043 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
