Travel Safety: How Old is Your Boeing 737?

With the spate of accidents involving the deterioration of the fuselages of Boeing 737 aircraft, the question arises--just how old are those "workhorses" of the aircraft industry, a sobriquet often applied to the 737? There were 1,113 of the 737-300 series built during the 15 years they were produced, between 1984 and 1999, that is. The largest number were built in the years 1986 through 1988.

What this means is that the youngest 737-300 is 12 years old, the oldest 27, the average about 23. There have been numerous incidents of the fuselages splitting open, two of them recently on Southwest Airlines alone, in July of 2009 and April of 2011. Southwest has the largest number of 737-300s in the world, with 169 such aicraft. Second largest in number is 33 for Lufthansa, third largest 28 with Air China. The second largest nunber with a US airline is 18 with US Air.

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) ordered the immediate examination of certain Boeing 737-300, -400 and -500 series that have accumulated more than 30,000 takeoff-and-landing cycles for early signs of incipient fatigue damage. There are about 175 of these planes worldwide, 80 of them US-registered aircraft.

Let's only hope that the current negotiations in the US Congress to cut the budget don't eliminate the funding for such examinations, making our air travel less safe.

Note: I blog here exclusively on travel health and safety, backed by my work as pro bono vice president of the not-for-profit charity, the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers, www.iamat.org. 

Source: http://www.frommers.com/community/blogs/behind-the-guides.cfm?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a7de34cd3-aed1-4a4a-83e2-9fb0419bd278Post%3a70ec4114-2826-41f0-b8d4-a14fb4abb2b9

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