On which airliner have most people taken their first flight?

DDR · Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:35 am

My first flight was on an Interflug IL-62 and I was 3.

srbom · Wed Oct 04, 2017 3:37 am

A330-200 on Air India BOM-MAA-SIN

keumos · Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:08 am

First flight always exciting. My first flight was a Boeing 737.

SheikhDjibouti · Thu Oct 05, 2017 1:45 am

MrHMSH wrote:
.. on which airliner across all history have most people taken their first flight? I would be surprised if it's not the 737 to be honest.

Regards, Martin

The problem here is that the answer really depends on the age profile of the typical a.net user, and for that matter the age profile of those posters who can be bothered to reply to your thread. Please remember that the B737 wasn't always top dog. In 1970, Boeing received only 37 orders. Facing financial difficulties, Boeing considered closing the 737 production-line. In the mid 1970's it was the B727 that was all conquering and heading towards 1,000 delivered, whilst the B737 was very much a dead duck. struggling for sales. In the context of many of the original jet airliners, breaking 1,000 sales was a big deal. These days it would probably be considered a commercial failure!

But with over 100 answers to this question, what this thread really needs is somebody to analyse the data, put it in a spreadsheet, and come up with an answer. Of course only an absolute idiot would waste his time doing this tedious chore.

Gimme a few hours - I'll get back to you. :banghead:

SheikhDjibouti · Thu Oct 05, 2017 10:32 am

VCEflyboy wrote:
Ok my pseudo scientific approach would be looking at low cost airlines which have by far a much higher first-timer rate than he legacies. So I'm the US and the EU would indeed be the 737 (Southwest, Ryanair). In Southeast Asia and China though it might be the A320 (Air Asia, Spring Airlines, Juneyao). Funny enough for Japan I wouldn't be surprised if it was the 747 because there have been no low cost carriers until very recently, and the most flights catering to first timers like big domestic trunk routes and VFR routes to HI were historically operated by 747s.

In light of all the answers from people obviously to be too young to remember the details for themselves, i.e. travelling with their parents, maybe the question is what sort of airline would a family with young children fly on? And to what sort of destination?
For my own kids, it was never going to be an inter-continental business trip e.g. on a flagship B747. Their first flights were UK to Spain for a package holiday. These days, these holiday flights are in state-of-the-art new aircraft, but I can also remember UK airlines flying worn out second-hand aircraft, with mis-matched fleets made up of less popular aircraft types.
Monarch Airlines, currently in the news, started out with Britannia aircraft handed down from Caledonian and British Eagle, and Boeing 720s that were probably released from American Airlines. One poster flew to Jersey on a DC-3, and these were still in operation in the 1970's, if not later.
Dan-Air at one point owned all 49 remaining Comet aircraft, long after every other airline had ceased to operate them.
I can't speak for what was happening in the US at that time, but I seem to recall various travel groups flying Lockheed Electra aircraft, presumably in a similar way. I also suspect that package holidays feature less in the US, and more first flights were family visiting distant family. A similar journey In the UK would have involved a train.

SheikhDjibouti · Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:42 pm

Ok, so I've done a spreadsheet analysis of the first 103 replies, but burying the answer here as post #104 doesn't quite seem right.
Equally, starting a new thread to highlight the results is questionable. What do I do?

I'll start by posting it here.....
YES, the Boeing 737 was the winner, as many predicted, with 12 "votes". But the whole picture is much more interesting than that.

If I break down the list by MANUFACTURER, we get
Boeing (41), McDonnell-Douglas (13), Fokker/Fairchild (7), Airbus (6), Lockheed (5)
Just take a moment and let that sink in; Boeing (41) vs Airbus (6)
Even Lockheed are giving Airbus a run for their money! And the Fokker/Fairchild (F-27 & F-28) result is surely just a fluke.
As I stated elsewhere, this surely reflects the age of many posters here on a.net, not the current state of the airline industry.

It is also just about legitimate to collect a variety of types under the BAe umbrella to come up with (11),
if for instance you count the Vickers Viscount & all the types from British companies that eventually made up BAe.
Much in the same way same way that the Douglas DC-3, DC-4 etc are attributed to the much later "McDonnell-Douglas."

(Part II to follow shortly)

DutchA350XWB · Fri Oct 06, 2017 1:25 pm

My first flight was with the Queen of the Sky of KLM. Since then, the 747 is my favorite airplane.

SheikhDjibouti · Fri Oct 06, 2017 5:08 pm

Ok, so here is Part II of my spreadsheet analysis (assuming that anybody gives a hoot!)

I thought about grouping data decade-by-decade, but that isn't quite how aircraft development progressed. It would only identify the age of the posters who contributed to the thread. Instead the following list breaks things down into logical groups, broadly following aircraft development, but counting all "first flights" per type, even if it was somebody who first flew in 2015, in a type that was by then 50 years old (e.g. B737)

Grandfather Types - the birth of air travel;
Douglas DC-3 (2 entries) - one poster flew in this way back in 1950 or thereabouts, the other relatively recently probably mid 1970s.

1950's - The first modern airliners;
CV-440/CV-580 (2), DC-4 (2), DC-6/DC-7 (3), Vickers Viscount (3). Notice all these are propellor driven, but I would have also included the DH.106 Comet, if anybody had mentioned it.

Late 1950's/early 1960's, The Jet Age arrives;
B707/B720 (7), DC-8 (1), L188 Electra (2), F27/FH-227 (3). The B707 family was an obvious winner here.

The 1960's or Jet Age part II;
B727 (7), B737 (12), DC-9 & MD80 (6), BAC 1-11 (4), HS121 Trident (2)
An honourable mention for the B727 here. As for the B737; the only question is why was it's winning margin so low? That will obviously change.

[b]The 1970's; Boeing 747 & other early widebodies[/b];
B747 (6), DC-10 (3), L1011 (3), A300 (1)

The 1980's and beyond;
A number of posters took their first flights in these decades, mostly in types already listed above. - e.g. B737.
Here are the others; B757 (3), B767 (3), B777 (3), Airbus A319/A320 (3). And just to complete the list; A310 (1), A330 (1). No-one is claiming the B787, yet.

Footnote
I have omitted a number of one-offs because statistically they count for little, but I admit it did my soul good to see mention of both the Vickers VC-10, and the Ilyushin Il-62.
Oh Beauty, where art thou now?

denplanenut · Sat Oct 07, 2017 4:18 am

My first flight was on a Continental 737-300 San Pedro Sula (SAP), Honduras to Houston (IAH), on Feb. 17, 1991. Continued to Newark (EWR) on a widebody but not sure what type. Does anyone have an old timetable from that time to verify the aircraft for these flights? I know we landed in Newark late, after 10pm.

speedbudgie · Sat Oct 07, 2017 5:31 pm

My first was in early 1987. TWA from London to Boston. I believe this was an L1011 and think we flew from Gatwick (as opposed to Heathrow). Does anyone have an old route map to confirm?

citationjet · Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:26 pm

My first flight was a Braniff DC-3 in 1956.

thegoldenargosy · Tue Oct 10, 2017 1:04 am

TWA DC-9-30 MDT-STL 1989

FA9295 · Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:18 pm

Airline: Alaska Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 737-400
Route: PDX-SNA

TWA772LR · Sun Dec 31, 2017 12:42 am

Mine was on Northwest on MEM-LAX in December of 1992. I was 3 months old and it was either an A320 or 727. I think it might have been an A320 and the is even a photo in the database of an NW A320 landing in LAX from MEM in December of 1992 so baby TWA772LR may have been on there!

zakuivcustom · Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:33 pm

Too long ago for me. 1994 HKG-PEK on a 747 variant (most likely a -400, but could just as easily be an 747SP).

In fact, it was all 747 on my first 3 trips aboard (HKG-NRT in 1995 then HKG-SIN in 1997).

Kent350787 · Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:49 am

Mid 1970s some time - Fokker F27, SYD-WGA-SYD. Next commercial flight was a SAAB 340 in the early 1990s

jem2000 · Mon Jan 01, 2018 3:16 pm

My first flight was on an Aurigny Air Services Britten Norman Trislander G-AYWI from GCI to JER..

Arion640 · Mon Jan 01, 2018 3:26 pm

G-ZZZA - British Airways 777-200, Heathrow to Dubai, September 2006.

SQ22 · Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:53 pm

LH 747-400 "Hamburg", FRA-SIN-MEL, March 26th, 1993.

jwstanly · Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:29 am

Mine was a Virgin Atlantic 747-400 from MCO to LGW in 2002. In retrospect, I wish this was later in my life so I could more greatly appreciate flying on the Queen of the Skies. Also very interesting as an American; most passengers are Brittish coming to Disney World.

sotnas7 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 2:13 am

D-ABAN B737 of Air Berlin, OPorto to Mallorca, August 2006

geologyrocks · Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:22 am

747SP for me.

My first kid...717
My second kid...MD-88

AirAotearoa · Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:10 pm

My first flight was on a NAC (NZ) F27 Friendship HLZ-WLG in Dec 1976

denplanenut · Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:53 pm

Continental 737-300 SAP-IAH

vhtje · Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:39 pm

TN 737-276, CNS to BNE. Followed by a TN A300 BNE to MEL, in 1981.

I can still vividly remember the mustard yellow interior of the A300. Sooo tasteful.

reffado · Thu Jan 04, 2018 2:05 am

My first flight was in an RG 747. I'm fairly certain it was a 743, as I think the 744s were gone by the late 1990s.

On which airliner have most people taken their first flight?

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