25 years, wow. I’m afraid I remember when the VW Beetle and the DC-3 hit that mark. The 146 is special, as many have explained above. For passengers, perhaps a slightly less massified feeling, just a few steps up into that low floor, like a bus, maybe it’s a subtly different team feeling bonding flight deck and cabin crew and that seeps to the back.
And I think its shortfield qualities certainly nudged Boeing’s brains to get more out of the 737. The 146 was shortlisted to replace Electras on the Rio-Sao Paulo shuttle and lost out to Boeing’s improvements plus, no doubt, political prowess.
Anecdote from my last flight, Schiepol-Glasgow, late nineties, UK Air, less than half full: pushback from a remote stand blocked by a wildcat ground handlers strike, no room to swing and loads of flimsy boarding stairs scattered about. A bunch of us pax spoke to captain, suggested we move the stairs, push the aircraft back ourselves. Wide grins all round, consultation and eventually, refusal – insurance considerations and all the downstream aggro for KLM. But, coincidence or not, less than five minutes later the strike was over and a tug showed up. Even wider grins.