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Classic & Retired Jetliner Graveyard

Tribute and historical registry honoring the golden age of commercial jet aviation. Review production milestones, final passenger flights, and verified static museum displays for Concorde, Boeing 747-400, MD-11, L-1011 TriStar, and classic trijets.

Focus: Classic & Phased-Out Jets Era: 1960s to 2020s Preservation: Museum Airframes Worldwide Updated: Thursday, September 17, 2026

Key Facts

  • Historical retrospective documenting legendary retired commercial jetliners and classic airliner types.
  • Catalogs total production run numbers, commercial launch carriers, and final revenue flight dates.
  • Maps surviving preserved airframes and static museum displays worldwide for aviation historians.
  • Chronicles the transition from vintage trijets and quadjets to high-efficiency twin-engine fleets.
Supersonic Transport (SST)

Concorde

Aerospatiale / BAC
Total Built: 20 units
Service Window: 1976 to 2003
Launch Carrier: British Airways & Air France
Current Status: Preserved (18 Surviving Airframes)
Final Passenger Flight:

26 Nov 2003 (G-BOAF to Filton)

Powerplant Specification:

4x Rolls-Royce / Snecma Olympus 593 turbojets with afterburners

Notable Museum Displays:

Intrepid Museum (NYC), Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy (IAD), Brooklands (UK), Sinsheim (Germany)

High-Capacity Long-Haul Widebody

Boeing 747-400 (Passenger)

Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Total Built: 694 units
Service Window: 1989 to 2020 (Mainline US: 2017)
Launch Carrier: Northwest Airlines
Current Status: Freighter Active / Passenger Retired
Final Passenger Flight:

8 Oct 2020 (British Airways G-CIVB)

Powerplant Specification:

4x GE CF6-80C2, PW4056, or RR RB211-524G

Notable Museum Displays:

Cotswold Airport Kemble (G-CIVB), Duxford IWM (G-BNLA nose), Delta Flight Museum (Atlanta)

Long-Range Widebody Trijet

McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (Passenger)

McDonnell Douglas
Total Built: 200 units
Service Window: 1990 to 2014
Launch Carrier: Finnair
Current Status: Active in Air Cargo (FedEx, UPS)
Final Passenger Flight:

26 Oct 2014 (KLM PH-KCE Montreal to Amsterdam)

Powerplant Specification:

3x GE CF6-80C2D1F or Pratt & Whitney PW4460

Notable Museum Displays:

Restricted (Most converted to freighters; remaining airframes in desert storage)

Widebody Transcontinental Trijet

Lockheed L-1011 TriStar

Lockheed Corporation
Total Built: 250 units
Service Window: 1972 to 2008 (Commercial)
Launch Carrier: Eastern Air Lines & TWA
Current Status: 1 Flying (Stargazer N140SC Orbital Launcher)
Final Passenger Flight:

31 Jan 2008 (Air Transat C-FTNA)

Powerplant Specification:

3x Rolls-Royce RB211-22B / RB211-524B

Notable Museum Displays:

Delta Flight Museum (Atlanta), Kansas City Museum, Science Museum Wroughton (UK)

Ultra-Long-Range Four-Engine Widebody

Airbus A340 (200/300/500)

Airbus Industrie
Total Built: 377 units
Service Window: 1993 to Present (Phasing Out)
Launch Carrier: Lufthansa & Air France
Current Status: Near Complete Retirement
Final Passenger Flight:

Phased out by Singapore, Iberia, SAS (Limited charter service)

Powerplant Specification:

4x CFM56-5C (A340-200/300) or 4x RR Trent 500 (A340-500/600)

Notable Museum Displays:

Aeroscopia Museum (Toulouse, MSN 1 prototype)

Medium-to-Long-Range Trijet

Douglas DC-10 (Passenger)

McDonnell Douglas
Total Built: 386 units
Service Window: 1971 to 2014
Launch Carrier: American Airlines & United Airlines
Current Status: Active in Aerial Firefighting & Tanker Ops
Final Passenger Flight:

20 Feb 2014 (Biman Bangladesh S2-ACO Dhaka to Birmingham)

Powerplant Specification:

3x General Electric CF6-6 / CF6-50

Notable Museum Displays:

Strategic Air Command Museum (Ashland, NE), Western Museum of Flight (Torrance, CA)

Short-to-Medium-Range T-Tail Trijet

Boeing 727 (100/200)

Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Total Built: 1,832 units
Service Window: 1964 to 2019
Launch Carrier: Eastern Air Lines
Current Status: Specialized Freighter & Research Active
Final Passenger Flight:

13 Jan 2019 (Iran Aseman Airlines EP-ASB Zahedan to Tehran)

Powerplant Specification:

3x Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7 through JT8D-17R

Notable Museum Displays:

Museum of Flight (Seattle, EAL Prototype), National Museum of Commercial Aviation

Short-Haul Rear-Engine Twinjet

BAC One-Eleven

British Aircraft Corporation
Total Built: 244 units
Service Window: 1965 to 2002
Launch Carrier: British United Airways (BUA)
Current Status: Preserved in Museums
Final Passenger Flight:

7 May 2002 (European Aviation Air Charter)

Powerplant Specification:

2x Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 511/512 turbofans

Notable Museum Displays:

Brooklands Museum (Weybridge, UK), Duxford IWM, Boscombe Down Aviation Collection

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did airlines retire commercial four-engine and three-engine airframes?

Advances in turbofan reliability led to ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards) certification, allowing high-efficiency twinjets like the Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 to fly oceanic corridors while consuming 20% to 35% less fuel with lower maintenance overhead.

Are any Concorde airframes still airworthy today?

None of the 18 surviving Concorde airframes remain in airworthy condition. All have been decommissioned and drained of flight fluids, but multiple museum exhibits (such as G-BOAC at Manchester and G-BBDG at Brooklands) retain functioning hydraulic nose droop mechanisms for visitor demonstrations.

Can retired passenger jets be converted into cargo freighters?

Yes. Many twinjets and trijets (including the Boeing 747-400, 767-300, 757-200, 737-800, and MD-11) undergo Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversion programs where passenger windows are plugged, main deck cargo doors are cut, and heavy floor beams are installed.

What is the oldest commercial jetliner still in active revenue service?

Several Boeing 737-200 gravel-kit airframes built in the late 1970s and early 1980s remain active with Canadian northern operators like Nolinor Aviation and Chrono Aviation due to their ability to land on unpaved Arctic gravel runways.