Next month will mark 40 years since the first flight of the Boeing 767. Impressively, this twin-engine widebody remains in production after four decades, but only for cargo versions. With production of the passenger version having ended several years ago, let's dive into the ch-aviation.com database to see where the newest passenger 767s can be found.
The very youngest
The world's youngest remaining passenger-carrying Boeing 767s belong to Kazakhstan's Air Astana. The Almaty-based Kazakh flag carrier flies three 767-300ERs that are less than eight years old. The youngest of these is P4-KEC. Clocking in at 7.25 years old, Air Astana received this aircraft in June 2014. It is currently undergoing maintenance which will see it converted back to a passenger configuration. It had previously served as a makeshift freighter.
Air Astana's other two comparatively youthful 767-300ERs are P4-KEA (7.98 years old) and P4-KEB (7.92 years old). The airline received these 223-seat widebodies in September and October 2013 respectively. Needless to say, they strike a great contrast with the world's oldest active 767s, some of which have nearly four decades of service behind them.
The LATAM Group
South America's LATAM Group is also home to several 767-300ERs with less than a decade of service under their belts. Most belong to LATAM Brazil, which has nine examples between 8.25 and 9.24 years old. Six are active, with two in storage and one in maintenance.
Elsewhere in the LATAM portfolio, the group's Peruvian subsidiary (LATAM Perú) also operates two 767-300ERs that are yet to reach their 10th birthdays. The youngest of these is CC-BDB, which clocks in at 9.85 years old. This aircraft is currently in storage, as is its 9.96-year-old counterpart CC-BDA. The airline also operates nine older 767-300ERs.
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Central Asia is a particular hotspot
While Air Astana operates the world's youngest passenger 767s, the Kazakh flag carrier is not the only Central Asian airline to fly comparatively youthful examples of the Boeing twinjet. Indeed, neighboring Uzbekistan Airways operates an 8.28-year-old example registered as UK67006. It also flies UK67005, which clocks in at 8.51 years old.
Further to the east, MIAT Mongolian Airlines is the operator of a single 252-seat Boeing 767-300ER. It received this 8.43-year-old aircraft brand new in May 2013. It is registered as JU-1021, and seats 237 economy passengers behind a 15-seat business class cabin.
Other variants
You may have noticed that all of the world's youngest passenger-carrying Boeing 767s are examples of the -300ER variant. While the remaining passenger examples of other variants of the family may not be so young, let's take a quick look at where they stand.
Data from ch-aviation shows that the youngest non-ER example of the 767-300 belongs to Japan Airlines. Registered as JA8988, this twinjet is currently in storage. Moving onto the 767-400ER, the Bahrain Royal flight operates a 13.45-year-old example of the type. This aircraft is currently undergoing maintenance, and bears the registration A9C-HMH.
Saudi Aramco Aviation operates the world's youngest remaining 767-200ER. This aircraft is 18.46 years old, and remains active under the registration N767A. However, there are far fewer surviving examples of the original 767-200. The youngest of these is a 36.15-year-old Eastern Airlines plane (N603KW), which is presently in storage in Miami.
What's the youngest 767 that you've ever flown on? Perhaps it was one of the ones featured in this article? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!