Most planes heading for retirement spend their final days on quiet standby duty. Jet2's Boeing 737-800 G-GDFD did the opposite: it worked flat out, flying sun-seekers to Spain, Greece, Turkey and the Canary Islands right up until its last passenger service on October 18, 2026.

The aircraft was no ordinary jet. Built as the second 737-800 ever made, it first flew on August 15, 1997 as Boeing prototype N35030, used to develop the 737 Next Generation family. All seven earlier NG aircraft have since been scrapped, which left this one as the oldest surviving member of the entire 737NG line. After testing, it entered service with German leisure carrier Hapag-Lloyd in December 1998, later flew as Hapagfly and TUIfly — even sporting a Volkswagen Sharan promotional livery — and joined Jet2 in April 2011 as G-GDFD.

Its final week shows just how hard holiday airlines work their fleets. Starting October 12 from Glasgow, the plane ran four sectors in under 19 hours: an early Alicante rotation followed by an evening run to Rhodes that landed back in Scotland after midnight. The days that followed brought return trips to Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Corfu, Heraklion, Dalaman and Palma — 16 sectors in five days. On October 17 it flew to Tenerife one last time, repositioned to East Midlands, then operated a night rotation to Antalya. Its true final flight came the next day: LS644 from Ibiza back to East Midlands, closing out 29 years of carrying passengers.

By March 2026 the jet had logged 81,999 flight hours and more than 30,000 flights, according to CAA records and Jet2. Its retirement fits a wider shift: Jet2 took its first Airbus A321neo in March 2023 and had 30 delivered by July 2026, part of an order for 155. The A321neo seats 232 against 189 on the airline's 737-800s — roughly 23% more capacity — with better fuel burn per seat on busy Mediterranean routes. That said, Jet2 isn't dumping its Boeings overnight; it has fitted Split Scimitar Winglets to 74 of them and switched to lightweight paint to squeeze out efficiency during the transition.

One footnote for aviation nerds: G-GDFD was the oldest 737-800, but not the oldest 737 flying. Older Classic and Original generation jets still operate — Canada's Nolinor Aviation even flies roughly 50-year-old 737-200s on gravel-runway routes to remote destinations.

For travellers, this is a small but telling marker of where leisure flying is heading. If you've flown Jet2 from Glasgow, Manchester or East Midlands in recent years, there's a decent chance this veteran carried you to the beach. Future trips will increasingly be on newer, roomier Airbuses — more seats per flight, which typically means better availability and competitive fares on peak-season holiday routes, though also busier cabins.