<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by WHBM:
The last "classic" 707 fleet, ie First and Coach seating, in scheduled service, was Middle East Airlines operating out of Beirut, using old American Airlines aircraft. MEA for many years could not get hull insurance on more modern aircraft while at their Beirut base. Their 707s didn't have a formal end of service date but had very slowly faded away by about 5 years ago. They had 150 seats, F22 Y128, so the seats had been pitched together somewhat compared to the old days.</font>
I remember flying Athens-Beirut in or around 1995 and it was quite scary because the plane definitely showed it's old age and it had signs of being a spare plane written all over . One of the engine needed reparation on the tarmac and the ustensils were from various airlines, including Sabena, KLM, Canadian, AC and LH.