United Retires Boeing 737 Fleet

[joeyb747]

Just an FYI...

In the New (JAN/FEB) issue of AIRLINERS (witch has just hit my mailbox today... ), there is a good article on the retirement of the Boeing 737 from the UAL fleet. It actually occurred October 28, 2009, marking the end of over 41 years of Boeing 737 Service, witch began in 1968. United was the launch customer for the Boeing 737-200, placing orders for the bird in 1965. Some good pics of B737's in various UAL trim accompany the article.

Captain Robert Russo commanded the retirement flight, witch also marked his retirement.

Below is an article I found on-line:

http://travel.aol.com/travel-ideas/articles/captain-retires-with-boeing-737-last-flight

Below is  Boeing 737-322 N331UA / 9331 (cn 24192/1590), the aircraft that operated the final service (KIAD-KORD-KDEN-KLAX-KSFO), shown here in KLAX, before heading to KSFO. The final flight was appropriately numbered "United 737".

The following day, she was ferried to KVCV to join the rest of the former UAL B737 fleet, awaiting an uncertain future...

[Fryy/Avocadoflight]

In the next few months or so American is going to be retiring their MD80's and going with new 737-800's.

[Pilot3033]

In the next few months or so American is going to be retiring their MD80's and going with new 737-800's.

Source? That's around 250 or more Supers to get rid of in a few months, and a lot of NG's to take on. The long term plan is of course to do this, but the MD80s still have a few years left in them as feasible revenue generators. According to Wikipedia, AAL only has 57 738's on order, not really enough to replace the MD80 fleet, even if you have overlap.

[sykocus]

In the next few months or so American is going to be retiring their MD80's and going with new 737-800's.

Not that I plan on flying AA anytime soon, but this can't come soon enough IMO. I don't have many happy memories about AA's MD80s.

[Fryy/Avocadoflight]

In the next few months or so American is going to be retiring their MD80's and going with new 737-800's.

Source? That's around 250 or more Supers to get rid of in a few months, and a lot of NG's to take on. The long term plan is of course to do this, but the MD80s still have a few years left in them as feasible revenue generators. According to Wikipedia, AAL only has 57 738's on order, not really enough to replace the MD80 fleet, even if you have overlap.

My father flys the maddog for em now, he's more than ready to have it retired, especially after flying the 75/76. I dont have all the details, but they did finally decide to retire them and move them to the 738's. Theres about 300 md80s, they've already sold some off for scrap. Realistically its probably within the next year or so.

[aevins]

In the next few months or so American is going to be retiring their MD80's and going with new 737-800's.

Couldn't come soon enough.

[laylow]

I'm going to miss the MD80's.  They sound like real jet airliners.  Noisy and powerful.

[Fryy/Avocadoflight]

I'm going to miss the MD80's.  They sound like real jet airliners.  Noisy and powerful.

Yeah I know what you mean.
Here's a couple pictures I took of my dad flying out of SMF to DFW last summer. I just wish a could of taken some video or pictures when I got to fly with him from SFO to BOS from the flight deck of a 757, of course this was years before 9/11 when that was somewhat possible.

[mk223]

A lot of the 737's ended up at Goodyear, AZ. I got one here in the process of storage
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkoffman/4179787875/

[KHAOS]

I'm going to miss the MD80's.  They sound like real jet airliners.  Noisy and powerful.

Yeah I know what you mean.
Here's a couple pictures I took of my dad flying out of SMF to DFW last summer. I just wish a could of taken some video or pictures when I got to fly with him from SFO to BOS from the flight deck of a 757, of course this was years before 9/11 when that was somewhat possible.

Awesome shots, you're very lucky to have gotten those.

Sounds like you and I are cut from the same cloth; my dad's an airline pilot, and I had the fortunate experience of being able to fly with him as well, all before security really cracked down.

Such a shame that the actions of a few screwed things up for the rest of us.