Built in 1978, Venezuela’s Boeing 737-200 is today the oldest passenger aircraft in the world that still operates scheduled flights. Its story mixes nostalgia, engineering and metallic stubbornness. Has 47 years of service
He is 47 years old, smells like history and roars as if he refuses to die. The Boeing 737-200 registration YV3471 of the Venezuelan airline continues to do what it was designed to do: transport passengers ticket in hand. The unusual thing is that it does so in the middle of 2025, when the rest of its brothers are already resting in museums, deserts or airplane cemeteries (including others operated by the same airline or its competitor Rutaca).
Airlines in Venezuela operate older aircraft than their counterparts in the rest of the world. On average, The country’s passenger aircraft fleet is 29.58 years olda considerably high figure compared to other countries in the region (in Mexico, for example, airplanes have an average age of 8.1 years).
British YouTuber Noel Philips traveled to Porlamar just to ride this relic. On his channel, specialized in unique aerial experiences, he presents it as “the oldest passenger plane in the world still flying on a regular schedule”. And he doesn’t exaggerate.
Only four Boeing 737-200s continue to carry passengers on scheduled flights: one in Zimbabwe, one in Somalia and two in Venezuela, one from Avior and that of Venezuelan the oldest.
He Boeing 737-200 It was an engineering gem in its time. It entered service in 1968 and was produced until 1988 as an extended version of the 737-100 and was the first model of the family to become a commercial success. Equipped with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines, it could carry up to 130 passengers and land on gravel runways thanks to a protection system called gravel kit, which prevented stones from being sucked into the engines. That versatility made it the workhorse of airlines in Alaska, Canada, Africa… and, decades later, Venezuela.
The Venezolana plane made its first flight on March 31, 1978, which means it has been in service for 47 years. This aircraft, with registration YV3471, can transport 117 passengers in a single class configuration. Before joining Venezolana, he flew for Frontier Airlines from 1978 to 1985 (the first Frontier Airlines, not the current low-cost carrier) and for United Airlines from 1985 to 2011.
The second oldest commercial airliner in service in the country belonged to Rutaca Airlines and was also a Boeing 737-200. This aircraft operated until 2024 and He was in the air for 44 yearssince it made its first flight in March 1983. With registration YV380T, it previously operated with Lufthansa (1981-1997), Ryanair (1997-2005) and LAN Airlines (2006-2008). Rutaca also operated the ancient YV1381 born in 1979 but disincorporated in 2017 after 45 years.
In fact, the five oldest passenger planes that continue to fly in Venezuela They are all Boeing 737-200.
In the case of the oldest, with almost five decades of flight, Philips describes it with irony and affection: “The seats look like they were taken from Southwest Airlines, although this plane never flew there. “They probably bought them after Southwest retired them and adapted them.” That mix of recycling and survival gives the interior the look of a moving museum: Faded upholstery, scratched windows and trays that unfold with difficulty, but everything functional.
When Boeing launched the 737-200, each unit cost about five million dollars (equivalent to 39 million today). It was a robust and reliable aircraft, so adaptable that it is still used today in arctic and remote regions, where its ability to operate on rustic runways is irreplaceable.
In Venezuela, however, the merit is not in the ice, but in persistence. While much of the world migrates to the 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo, the YV3471 It continues to fulfill its daily route of just 40 minutes over the Caribbean. Philips sums it up like this: «Flying in Venezuela is like looking at an airport from the nineties. The classics still fly here.
The older model 737-200 has had two recent incidents. In 2023 collided with ground equipment (for example, a vehicle or airport service car) in Santo Domingo; Dominican Republic and that caused damage to the nose and engine. It was repaired and flew again a month later. On May 31, 2025, he reported a failure in the hydraulic system and had to return to the Maiquetía airport. where he partially went off the track and ended up on soft ground (without pavement) when landing. It was then repaired and flew again last June.
You can see the full video of Noel Phillips here:
*Read also: The “Cubanization” of the Venezuelan automobile fleet makes used cars more expensive
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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