An era ended at United Airlines on 28 October as the carrier operated its last Boeing 737 passenger flight, more than 40 years after introducing the twinjet.

Flight 737, operated by 737-300 N331UA, took off from Washington Dulles and made what amounted to a farewell tour with stops at all the carrier’s hubs – Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, with the final touchdown at its San Francisco maintenance base.

United – which alongside Lufthansa was a launch customer for Boeing’s narrowbody workhorse – introduced the 737-200 into revenue service on 28 April 1968, and added the -300 model in 1986 and the -500s in 1990.

At its high point United’s 737 fleet totalled 220 aircraft. The aircraft’s squat appearance compared with contemporary aircraft at the time resulted in many of United’s pilots nicknaming the airplane “guppy”.

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