Qantas today retired its last Boeing 767 widebody jetliner, almost 30 years after the type entered its fleet.
The aircraft made its final flight – with the special flight number of QF767 – from Melbourne to Sydney.The 767 departed Melbourne at 5pm local time and made a flyover Sydney CBD, before landing at the airport at 6.25pm.
The Boeing 767 has been in the Qantas fleet since July 1985 and for a time was the ‘workhorse’ of the fleet, carrying nearly 168 million passengers on over 927,000 flights.
Qantas operated a total of 41 Boeing 767 in its fleet over the years, which collectively flew more than 1.8 billion kilometers – the equivalent of 2,438 return trips to the moon.
With seating for 250 people, the B767 was used in recent years flying between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, as well as from the east coast to Perth.
The 767s will be replaced by Qantas’ fleet of newer and larger Airbus A330s, which are receiving a major interior upgrade and seat around 300 people, and the Boeing 737s.
Since 2009, Qantas added over 140 new aircraft to its fleet, while retiring more than 80 – bringing the average age of its fleet down to 7.7 years, which is the lowest it has been for more than two decades and is significantly younger than the averages in North America, Europe or Asia Pacific.
Boeing started delivering 767s in 1981, with 1066 delivered as of November. It was Boeing's first wide-body twinjet and also first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The 767 is also Boeing's only aircraft having the freighter, passenger and tanker variants.
The USAF's next generation tanker- KC-46, being developed by Boeing is based on the 767 platform.
Current orders for 767 are for freighter and tanker versions, as passenger version has been replaced by more fuel efficient Boeing 787 and 777 twin aisles.
