However, after a slow start, orders for the went through the roof. Before long the became the first commercial jet design to sell over a thousand airplanes, and 1, were eventually built and sold, according to Boeing. After starting life as a commercial airliner, the has seen its role evolve over time.
One still in service is operated by a UK-based outfit called Oil Spill Response , which disperses oil slicks by dispensing petroleum-eating detergent while flying as low as feet above the water. Known as three-holers, airplanes with a triple engine configuration have a huge following among aviation enthusiasts.
While the eventually proved to be a huge success for Boeing, it has also been involved in some interesting incidents. It was pivotal in ushering in the jet age and shaping the airline industry as we know it today.
While this was the final passenger flight, dozens of Boeing freighters remain in service — and there are even a few being used as VIP jets for governments or charter.
Journalist Babak Taghvaee posted a video on Twitter showing a reporter on the ramp at Tehran Mehrabad, standing in front of the Boeing It was, Taghvaee said, the final flight of an Aseman While TPG could not confirm independently that Aseman Airlines is grounding the , the airline is indeed its last confirmed operator as a passenger aircraft.
However, its age alone is no indication of lack of safety. And freighter carriers routinely operate aircraft that first took flight more than 40 years ago. Still, the Boeing is an expensive aircraft to operate in Its three engines are very fuel-inefficient and costly to service; the world has since moved on to twinjets.
When the Boeing debuted in service in , the aircraft was state of the art. It could fly more passengers than most other narrowbody aircraft and it could do so at higher speeds and at a lower operating cost per passenger.
Airlines looking to embrace the jet age ordered hundreds of Boeing s. The first Boeing entered service with Eastern Air Lines in , and most major US airlines at some time in their operational history had the Boeing trijet in their fleet, including American Airlines, United, Delta and Alaska Airlines.
The paved the way for the Boeing and shaped the US domestic market. When production ended in , it was the most widely sold commercial jet in history — a total that has since been taken by the Today, a few of those s remain in storage , and even fewer remain in service. While this was the last scheduled passenger flight, smaller airlines with limited aircraft on hand have been known to reintroduce retired planes. Iran has proven to be a hotbed of historic commercial aircraft due to the ongoing sanctions imposed by the United States on the Iranian government.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said, in a photo caption, that Boeing s were built in Seattle. They were, in fact, built in the nearby city of Renton. Thankfully a number of Boeing s have made it into preservation for aviation enthusiasts and future generations to enjoy and experience.
In the later years of mainstream operations, cargo carrier FedEx Express were one of the largest operators of the type and, when time came to retire them, sent many examples off to various airports around the United States in particular for use with training colleges. Most of these can still be seen today. As airlines retired their Boeing s, many were sent to storage airports or abandoned at other airports around the world. There are probably hundreds of examples around the world, and so there are many chances to still see a on your travels, albeit not flying.
Perhaps most the prominent list of stored s are the former fleet operated by FedEx Express. Many of these aircraft, both the and , were donated to technical colleges around the USA and even further afield , as well as airport fire training departments and other organisations, to use in their training.
Most can be found in the list of preserved examples above. Sadly desert storage airports like Mojave, Victorville and Marana are no longer where many s can be found since most have by now been scrapped. So there you have it. The Boeing today, around 60 years since it first flew. Do you remember flying them or seeing them more regularly?
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