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What Airlines has the oldest and most rundown planes?

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What Airlines has the oldest and most rundown planes?

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Old Dec 31, 2006, 8:28 pm
  #16  
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Air Greenery
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Old Dec 31, 2006, 9:02 pm
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Generally, US carriers sell their a/c to thirld-world countries. Take Russia, for example. 'S7' aka Sibir' airlines bought a whole bunch of ex-Delta, ex-PanAm A-310s. They had a few incidents with them recently (one crashed). From what I have read, Russia's airlines use them and then sell the planes to Iran and Afghanisan..... so basically there's a third world market for fourth-world airplanes .
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 6:42 am
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My money's on Air Koryo, the state airline of North Korea and one of only two airlines on the planet with a one-star Skytrax ranking. 100% Soviet fleet, newest aircraft made in 1986 (and reserved for government use), oldest in 1966 (!). Their scheduled flights operate mostly with Tu-154Bs, all built in 1975-77.
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 2:05 pm
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Originally Posted by Palal
Generally, US carriers sell their a/c to thirld-world countries. Take Russia, for example. 'S7' aka Sibir' airlines bought a whole bunch of ex-Delta, ex-PanAm A-310s. They had a few incidents with them recently (one crashed). From what I have read, Russia's airlines use them and then sell the planes to Iran and Afghanisan..... so basically there's a third world market for fourth-world airplanes .

S7 does have some old planes. They've redone the insides a bit though. That helps a little. Aeroflot has really spiffed up the inside of theirs the last few years. The really bad ones are the former SU cast offs that never really "made it" as well known carriers (Dalavia, UTAir, etc.) that are indeed flying fourth-world airplanes.

The even smaller Russian companies that fly ЯК-40s, Antonovs of all sorts and the like are truly other worldly. A friend of mine lives in the far north of Russia and depends on these things to get to and from civilization. So far, so good.
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 2:36 pm
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Buffalo Airways here in northern Canada still flies DC-3's that date back to the 1930's. They are in excellent condition, considering their age.

http://www.buffaloairways.com/fleet.htm
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 2:55 pm
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Of the major carriers, it's American
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 4:16 pm
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Originally Posted by cj001f
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Is that a domestic airline, or is it a Peruvian one?
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 6:32 pm
  #23  
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Originally Posted by gleff
in any case China Southern still operates them
They do? I have never seen a CZ Antonov, infact CZ has a pretty young fleet average age 6.6 years.

Originally Posted by jpatokal
My money's on Air Koryo, the state airline of North Korea and one of only two airlines on the planet with a one-star Skytrax ranking. 100% Soviet fleet, newest aircraft made in 1986 (and reserved for government use), oldest in 1966 (!). Their scheduled flights operate mostly with Tu-154Bs, all built in 1975-77.
Air Koryo definatley does not deserve a 1 star rating. It's planes maybe old but that is all, they are immaculately maintained on the inside and the service and food (quantity and quality) would blow most North American/European short haul airlines out of the water. The only thing is the seat pitch in really lousy....and I mean really lousy I would say around 21 inches.

Oh and they almost exclusively use IL-62's for their PEK-FNJ, FNJ-BKK, FNJ-SHE flights. Those Tupolevs are used for internal flights, which unsurprisingly are often cancelled due to lack of passengers.
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 6:48 pm
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Of the majors, I think NW has the oldest average. Aloha probably has the oldest planes of any sizeable commercial carrier in the US.

I flew an 737-200 interisland a few years ago and was glad I didnt die. I knew how old it was.
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 7:12 pm
  #25  
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Originally Posted by CApreppie
Of the majors, I think NW has the oldest average. Aloha probably has the oldest planes of any sizeable commercial carrier in the US.
True, but take the DC-9s out and that age gets considerably younger. Thankfully, NW's replacing these DC-9s in the next few years with EMB-170s and CRJ-900s equipped with FC cabins.
Originally Posted by CApreppie
I flew an 737-200 interisland a few years ago and was glad I didnt die. I knew how old it was.
It's best to take the age of the aircraft out of your mind when flying an AQ jet.

'Tis fun, though, don't you think?
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 7:39 pm
  #26  
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"Still around!" TWA, Republic, Ozark

A few years back, American Airlines acquired TWA, which earlier had acquired Ozark Airlines. American Airlines appears still to be flying many of the TWA aircraft, which already were old even when TWA flew them. Unfortunately, American didn't take on the brand new 717's that TWA had just purchased before the take-over. So, instead, we get to fly regional jets.

Northwest Airlines once acquired Republic Airlines, which at one point had acquired Southern Airways. Bad enough that we're still boarding the old DC-9's of the Republic fleet but let's HOPE we're not currently flying on Southern Airway's old machines!
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 8:09 pm
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Chalk's?
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 8:43 pm
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Perhaps Ariana Afghan Airlines, planes were gifted to Ariana by Air India after it stopped being economically viable to fly them.

As an SU traveler (Aeroflot), their entire A319/20/21 fleet is brand new off the line in Toulouse, their B767-300ER fleet is quite young as well, much much younger fleet then ANY of North American airlines. TU-154's used on some domestic routes are all 154M models, which is the latest in production as well.
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 8:46 pm
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Thumbs down Must be Air Canada

I flew on Air Canada and it was terrible!! The plane was old, carpet worn and the seats were broken. They must have the oldest planes.
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 9:47 pm
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Originally Posted by vsevolod4
While I agree that NW has the rattiest-looking planes (and service), they are only in the middle of the pack when it comes to the major carriers (CO the best, AA the worst) in terms of age. Of course some new carriers such as JetBlue are way under age.
Of course these numbers are deceptive. I flew on a Continental 757-200 last week (EWR-LGW) that was desperately in need of an overhaul or replacement.
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