55 years in commercial service
 

What is the longest time an aircraft has been in commercial service with one airline?
I ask because I just read that Air Greenland, just did an engine and a tail roter change on an S61 helicopter with the registration OY-HAG. This helicopter was registered in August 1965 and has been flying for Air Greenland ever since, it has 45000 hours and 79000 landings.
I find this quite amazing for a helicopter, quite the contrast to the A380 wich is being pulled out of service 15 years after it started.

Horses for courses. There always was, is and for some time to come be a place for the S61. The A380 should never have left the drawing board, only ever going to fill a small niche market. The B777 all variants and A330 were already covering the long haul market, soon to be backed up by the A350 and B787. (and before I get accused of hindsight I made this point about the A380 here on PPRuNe before the first one entered service).

I believe Fed Ex has a few MD10’s with over 40 years on them

I know art and aesthetics are not part of hard nosed industrial logic, but the S61 was always a fine looking beast. It looked right, flew right and did exactly what it was designed to do and much more besides.
The A380 was ugly and excessive and was born into a world of improving efficiency and technology. Yes, it was a better Jumbo, but the Jumbo was always going to go the way of the freighter, and to design something that couldn't do that was very short sighted. I mean, the 747 was designed to compete (ho ho) with the C5A... but freight was part of the plan from day 0.

If you don't learn from history you run the risk not only of repeating it, but also of not repeating it.

I'm rarely surprised by even the most outlandish threads on PPRuNe, but I have to admit that I never anticipated one comparing the Sikorsky S-61 to the Airbus A380 ...

So many folks furloughed or out of work now Dave, so expect to be surprised...

I should not have made the comparison between the two, as that stole the focus from my question.

My question was, has any airline had an aircraft in commercial service for 55 years, as Air Greenland’s OY-HAG?

Danish register of civil aircraft - OY-HAG - Sikorsky S-61N

Well there's the Samaritan's Purse DC-8 that entered service with Finnair in 1969, but that's had a number of different owners.

I thought Iran Air might have something, but it looks like their oldest aircraft now are their A300s, which are about 35 years old. No idea how old any retired 747 classics they had were. Does anyone still operate the 747SP? That might be a contender with some, although not 55 years obviously.

I knew Delta got their first DC9 in 1965 and retired the type in 2014, but didn't realise they retired the fleet in the early 90s only to get some of the very same airframes back after the Northwest merger. No idea how old the airframes themselves were.

Edit: something Russian might have done it, maybe an IL-62, or there could be a TU-154 out there somewhere getting close.

Not quite the same but there is a DC7 based in Oregon that has been in continuous use as a firebomber for 34 years, flown by the same gentleman all that time.

N550FE, 47.9 years.

But its first 25-odd years were spent as a DC-10 with American, before conversion to an MD-10F for FedEx.

SOFIA - 43 years old.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9a3fd2af63.jpg

N747NA, serial number 21441, line number 306. First flight April 25, 1977 and delivered to Pan Am in May.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strato...ared_Astronomy

There are a few 80 year old DC3s still in commercial operations - although modified somewhat and not in RPT roles and different operators.

In that context, there is a question with the evolving safety standards of aviation, are these records something to be proud of?

I read somwhere, that the first production F-27 Friendship, was delivered to Air Lingus in 1956 and was decommisioned in 2004 in Australia. That is a service life of 48 years.

So as no one has come up with anything, is it safe to assume that OY-HAG is the worlds leading aircraft in commercial service with the same operator, as it‘s 55’th anniversary is coming up in August?