The queen of the skies is without a doubt the most iconic plane out there. A plane that puts a smile on every true aviation enthusiast upon seeing one in an airport or even better when flying on one. Unfortunately the Boeing 747 is destined to go extinct soon. In post though we’ll take a deeper look at which are the oldest passenger 747s still flying and active. We’ll only look at the oldest 3 flying scheduled passenger flights.
Iran Air’s EP-ICD Boeing 747
The oldest passenger 747 I could find record of still flying is in Mahan Air’s fleet. The aircraft belongs to the 747-400 series, flying under the registration number EP-ICD.
The Jumbo was originally delivered to the United Airlines in September 1990. It served the American carrier for over 25 years. It went into storage in August 2005 until it changed owners:
- Passing over to Armenia’s Blue Sky in October 2006 when it operated for Iran’s Mahan Air though. Under Blue Sky it was registered as EK-74783
- Eventually full ownership of this 747 passed to Mahan Air itself. It was originally registered as EP-MNA from 2008 to 2012 when it was stored in Tehran for 10 years.
This 747 underwent a re-registration after the purchase by Ghanian airline Smile Air fell through. Its present registration is EP-MEE. It has a maximum capacity of 462 passengers, in a 26 Business 436 Economy class configuration.
Lufthansa’s D-ABVM and D-ABVU
The second and third planes on this list are significantly younger that the Mahan Air one. Both these 747 are in the Lufthansa fleet. They were both stored until just months ago when they were brought back into service to cope with the rise in passenger numbers in 2022.
Both these Lufthansa are part of the 747-400 series.
Registration of these 2 747s is:
- D-ABVM delivered in February 1998 flying under the name of Kiel (24 Years Old)
- D-ABVU delivered to German national carrier in December 1998 (23 Years Old)
Both airliners have always been under Lufthansa’s control and never operated for other airlines. They both have cabins setup with:
- 67 Business class seats
- 32 in Premium Economy
- 272 in Economy
