The oldest aircraft flying for British Airways is the 777-200ER

British Airways operates nearly 300 aircraft, mainly out of London Heathrow, and has been modernizing its fleet in recent years with the addition of the Airbus A350-1000, Boeing 787-10, and jets from the A320neo family.

While the airline’s newest aircraft is an A320neo, what exactly are the oldest jets actively flying these days?

The oldest aircraft flying for British Airways these days are the airline’s Boeing 777-200ERs. After fully phasing out its non-ER 777-200s in August 2020, the airline’s oldest group of jets are the 43 777-200ERs, which average 23 years of age.

The absolute oldest at the moment is the aircraft registered G-VIIA. This jet was delivered in July of 1997 and is now 26 years old. The majority of these aircraft arrived between mid-1997 and October 2001. This was followed by a smaller batch of deliveries in 2009.

Despite their status as the oldest aircraft in the fleet, British Airways put this fleet through an extensive cabin refurbishment process between 2019 and 2021. Thus, passengers stepping aboard the jets will find the airline’s latest Club suites in business class, as well as newly fitted premium and economy seating as well.

If we take G-VIIA as an example, we see the 777-200ER flying to the New York City area quite often. Indeed, the jet has been deployed to JFK and Newark Liberty numerous times in the past month. Additionally, this particular aircraft has also been deployed on services to Abuja (Nigeria), Dubai (UAE), and Tel Aviv (Israel), among many other destinations.

At 26 years old, the oldest jet (G-VIIA) has had its fair share of incidents. Indeed, according to AeroInside, the airframe experienced a cabin-fume incident departing Frankfurt in 2015, a bird strike (involving multiple birds) on approach to Delhi airport in 2016, and finally, an engine shut down over Baku (Azerbaijan) in 2018.

So what aircraft type(s) will eventually replace these aircraft? It’s important to note that the airline’s latest investment in refreshed cabins indicates that the jets won’t be phased out anytime soon. The remaining 43 777-200ERs comprise the “last big core fleet” that is due to undergo replacement, and that BA will replace 35 of the aircraft between 2025 and 2029, “with 23 being phased out over 2028-29.”

In short, there is no direct replacement for these aircraft just yet. While the Boeing 777-9s will eventually arrive at British Airways, these are not a direct replacement due to their larger size. In some cases, however, the Boeing 787-10s operated by British Airways are a suitable modern replacement for the 777-200ERs. However, it should be noted that the 787-10’s range is lacking when compared to its older sibling and thus the longer services performed by the 777 cannot be completed by a fully loaded 787-10. Perhaps a long-range/extended range version of the 787-10? We’ll have to wait and see. simpleflying.com