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British Airways retires Boeing 737 fleet

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Passengers on Wednesday boarded a British Airways’ Boeing 737 for the last time ever with a final return trip to and from Gatwick Airport. As British Airways modernizes its fleet of aircraft, the Boeing 737 planes are being retired after 35 years of service. (guyanaaviation.com) Mais...

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nicholasweber
nicholas weber 3
About time too! The aircraft were noisy with dilapidated cabins, broken seats and plenty of sellotape evident.

For any long haul pax BA also has the oldest 747 fleet in the world!
Wilkie1
Tim Wilkie 2
The food is also that old....!
grahamamanley
Graham Manley 2
I just wish BA would retire its 747 fleet. I generally like to fly BA, but where possible I now deliberately choose routing and/or timing to avoid flying on their 747s as they have some of the most uncomfortable seats of any airline. I understand they are planning to roll out new seating in 2016 onward, but it is about 3 years too late.
gerrywilson21
Gerry Wilson 2
I have to say I love the 747 and often choose a routing that operates them.
I wish that BA had committed to the 747-8 but obviously not to be.
The refurbishment programme for the 747,s they are keeping hold of is under way.
On a personal note it will be a sad day for me when they do finally disappear from the BA network.
AlphaCharlie
Andre Capello 1
The 747-8 would have fitted perfectly in BA's fleet as a replacement for 747-400's. Not too late!
gerrywilson21
Gerry Wilson 1
I will live in hope!!
JENNYJET
JENNIFER JORDAN 1
To be honest, I flew B737-200 on Kenya Airways and British Airways. The BA flight was the short CDG to BHX following a Concorde flight into Paris. Concorde was luxury but the Boeing was lively, you felt every bump, rattle, squeak and I adored every moment of the flight.

The Kenya flight, I was bumped up to 1st class for the NBO-MBA sector ( equivilent perhaps to premium economy with current BA cabins ), the flight was noisy, tape secured the overhead bins, seat ventilators and light not working and NO reclining seats..the toilets were closed..in 1st class! That aside I enjoyed every moment once more.

The return to Nairobi was aboard A310-300 remaining onboard onwards to LHR. That Airbus flight I shall never forget because it exceeded the Concorde for comfortable flying, no bumps, squeaks or rattles and I never felt the landing at Heathrow it so silky.

I have flown on A340 ever since on long haul and A320 types for short hops.

Agreed, B737's of that age start to deteriorate and BA has had their worth and now they are being passed on for parting or further use elsewhere, this the corporate accounting at work. The BA747-400's are paid, carry no debt and are now cheap to operate given lower jet fuel costs and with future hedging of fuel at current prices, the BA fleet of 747 shall remain for some years to come. They are undergoing refits during heavy maintenance as of course is to be expected, seats wear out in time thus the largest airline fleet of 747 shall keep flying.

The additional A380 models and other acquisitions shall begin to allow the older members of the fleet to be moved on gradually in order to maintain the existing network and to add new routes suited to specific types as the B787.

The 737 was aquired for a specific purpose ( the UK shuttle service ) between regional airports linking to Heathrow longhaul services, replaced by the B757 which have themselves found new lives in the recreational charter market with the lives of TUI, or remain in use with Open Skies on the Paris - New York service.

I shall miss the B737 because it made being a passenger an interesting experience.

One more item of note, I believe BA operate in it's name B747-8 in the cargo sector though not under current ownership, I may wrong on that point but have seen liveried dash 8 at London Stansted at the Cargo terminal.

Can anyone confirm?
AlphaCharlie
Andre Capello 1
BA used to operate the B747-8F aircraft indeed. They had 3 aircraft in use between 2011 up to May 2015 leased from Polar Cargo. These were returned to Polar Cargo this year.
With BA World Cargo moving into IAG Cargo, BA is using freight capacity on their passenger fleet for cargo and using One World partners with freighters for larger cargo. A new route was announced between Heathrow and San Jose CA-USA, utilising cargo space on their latest B787-9 to transport high tech merchandise.
jomameti
John McCarter 1
This article is not quite true! BA operates in Southern Africa, through a partnership agreement with Comair Limited, in BA livery, and they use exclusively Boeing 737-800's!
ChrisSanders22
Chris Sanders 1
Comair still operate 737-300's (due to disappear soon), 737-400's (I was on one the week before last) and 737-800's. I also managed a flight on G-DOCX on its last flight TRN-LGW BA2579 30th September 2015. It's now at Victorville awaiting scrapping and part out.

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