Rare Airplanes To Fly
Rare Airplanes To Fly

A List of Rare Airplanes To Fly

Sam Chui·
AviationAviation NewsFeatured Stories

The current times are hitting the airline industry very hard. More and more airlines are sending their older planes into storage, with the risk that certain types may never return. Flight enthusiast Rene Zehnder and Special Flights Enthusiasts Group has complied the below list of rare classic civilian aircraft types, that hopefully will continue to fly POST COVID-19.

This guide only serves as a reference, the situation remains dynamic during COVID-19. Travel is not recommended for the time being.

A300B2/B4 Iranair

Iran Air A300B4
Iran Air A300B4

A300-600R Iran Air Tour, Iranair, Mahan, Meraj, Qeshm

Meraj Air A300-600
Meraj Air A300-600

A310-300 Ariana Afghan, Iranair, Mahan, Taban Air

A340 Azerbaijan (345), Air Belgium (343), Conviasa (342), Edelweiss (343), HiFly (343), Iberia (346), Iran Aseman (343), Kamair (343), Lufthansa (343/346), Mahan (343/346), Plus Ultra (343/346), Swiss (343), Syrianair (343)

An-12 Cavok, Kosmos, Irkut, Motor Sich, Ruby Star (tours), Ukraine Air Alliance

An-24/26 Air Koryo, Angara, Alrosa, Amur, Aerogaviota, Chukotavia, Iraero, Khabavia, Krasavia, Kostromskoe Avialinii, Motor Sich, Polar, UTAir Cargo, SCAT

An-28/38 Sila Avia (28), Alrosa (38)

An-74 Antonov Airlines, Jet-2000, Motor Sich, Pouya Air, UTAir Cargo

An-140 Motor Sich

Motor Sich An-140
Motor Sich An-140

An-148/158 Air Koryo (148E), Angara (148E), Cubana (158) to be reactivated

Air Koryo An-148
Air Koryo An-148

B737-200 Avior, Air Iniut, Air Zimbabwe, Canadian North, Nolinor, Rutaca, Venezolana

Air Zimbabwe B737-200
Air Zimbabwe B737-200

B737 Classics Air North (735), Albawings (734, 735), Albastar (734), ALK Airlines (733), ATA Airlines (733, 735), Avior (734), Bahamas Air (735), Belavia (733, 735), Boliviana (733), Blue Air (735), Caspian (734, 735), Flair Airlines (734), FlyPersia (733), GCA (734), Iran Aseman (734), Jet-2 (733), Jonika (734), Jordan Aviation (733, 734), Klasjet (735), Lumiwings (733), Nauru Airlines (B733), Nolinor (734), SCAT (733, 735), Sepehran Airlines (733, 735), Tarom (733), UTAir (733, 734, 735), Varesh Airlines (733/735)

B747 Air Atlanta Icelandic (B744), Air China (B744/748), Air India (744), British Airways (744), China Airlines (744), Korean Air (748), Lufthansa (744/748), Mahan (744), Rossiya (B744), Thai (744), Wamos (744)

Mahan Air B747-300
Mahan Air B747-300
Air China B747-400
Air China B747-400

B757-300 Condor, Delta, Icelandair, United

B767-200 /-200ER /-300 /-400ER Air Zimbabwe (-200), Asiana (-300), Austrian (-300), Condor (-300), Delta (-400ER), Omni Air International (762ER), MIAT (-300), Tajik Air (-300), United (-400ER), UTAir (-200)

Bae-146 / Avro Tezjet (-200, RJ85), Mahan (-200, -300, RJ100), Qeshm Airlines (RJ100), Skyjet (-100, -200), Summit Air (RJ85/RJ100)

Convair 580 Air Chathams

COMAC ARJ-21 Chengdu Airlines, Genghis Khan Airlines, Jiangxi

COMAC Secures Order for 105 ARJ21-700 Jets
COMAC ARJ-21

Do-228 / 328 / 328JET Rhein Neckar Air (328), Sevenair (228), Sun Air (328JET), May Air (228), New Central Airservice (228), Eagle Air (328), Aurigny (228), Denver Air Connection (328JET), Central Mountain Air (328)

DC-9 African Express (-30)

African Express DC-9-30
African Express DC-9-30

Fokker 28 Fuerza Aérea Argentina / LADE (-1000) (only military now)

Fokker 70 TUS Airways, Wayraperu, Air Niugini, Alliance Airlines

Fokker 100 Air Niugini, Alliance Airlines, Avanti, Iranair, Qeshm Airlines, Karun Airlines, Kish Airlines, Montenegro Airlines, Trade Air, Carpatair,

Il-76TD Air Koryo, Abakan Avia, Alfa Air, Alrosa, Azee Airlines, Aviacon Zitotrans, Badr Airlines, Maximus, Pouya Air, Rubystar (tours), Silkway, Sigma Airlines, Syrianair, Transaviaexport, Yuzhmashavia, ZetAvia

Il-18 Air Koryo

Air Koryo IL-18
Air Koryo IL-18

Il-62 Air Koryo (M)

Il-96-300 Cubana

Let-410/610 Orenburg (410), Sila (410)

MA-60 Joyair, Lao Skyway, Nepal

Nepal Airlines MA-60
Nepal Airlines MA-60

MD-80/90 Airfast (M82, M83), Anda Air (M83), Andes Líneas Aéreas (M83), ALK Airlines (M82), African Express (M82), ATA Airlines (M83), Bravo Airways (M82), Bulgarian Air Charter (M82/83), DAT (M82), Delta (M88/90), Iran Air Tour (M82/83), Iran Air (M82), Kish Air (M82/83), Laser Airlines (M81/82/83), Venezolana (M83), Tezjet (M83), Zagros Airlines (M82)

Tu-134 Air Koryo, Kosmos (A-3/AK)

Tu-154 Air Koryo (B/B-2), Alrosa (M)

Air Koryo Tu-154
Air Koryo Tu-154

Tu-204 Air Koryo (-100, -300), Kosmos (-100, -300)

Yak-40 Motor Sich, Petropavlovsk Kamchatskoe, Vologda, Zhezair

Motor Sich Yak-40
Motor Sich Yak-40

Yak-42D Izhavia, Krasavia

If you know any other rare type of commercial aircraft available to fly, please feel free to share in the comment section.

This guide only serves as a reference, the situation remains dynamic during COVID-19. Travel is not recommended for the time being.

Sam Chui

Sam Chui is one of the world's most established aviation and travel blogger, content creator and published author. He enjoys anything related to aviation and travel. His fascination with airplanes stemmed from visiting Kai Tak airport as a teenager. He has spent some of the happiest times of his life in the air.

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33 Responses

  1. Hi Sam, Philippine Air Force has F28 as its presidential plane. Its 41 years old but only about 5000 flight hours to date

    Reply

  5. Hi with kras air you can fly a 32 year old yak-42 in Russia possibly when this whole lockdown has finished can you review it please

    Reply

  7. I take it you are not including cargo aircraft because if you are you can book a flight with a cargo airline a 50 year old 747-200 if you are interested contact me

    Reply

  8. Hi Sam just to say I’ve got your book and I love it but that 707 you flew on is that still flying because my uncle thought of going there and he wanted to know about the 707 so thanks

    Reply

  9. I suggest incluiding Air Panama’s Fokker 50s. The airline operates 3 of this model. I am pretty sure they will not retire them, first they go bankrupt.

    Reply

  10. Hey Sam
    Would you make it one day to come fly Kenya Airways, Nairobi-JFK, I’ll be glad😊

    Reply

  11. Does Mahan Air still fly the 747-300 as the last airlines which uses a 747 classic as a passenger airplane or is it already retired?

    Reply

  13. I very much enjoy the videos, however the editing could be improved by allowing more time between cuts. There is not enough time to read the caption and look at the picture. I find myself having to stop the video and repeat several times to see picture and read caption.

    Reply

  14. i flew on the BAE 146 this year to King George Island Antarctica with Aerovias DAP AKA Antarctic Airways. What a cool flight. You should do that one some day and make a review!

    Reply

  15. LOT retired B734 about 2 months ago, there’s only 1 aircraft left used only as a substition in emergency cases – no schedule flights.

    Reply

  17. Hi Sam,
    This is a great list!
    Does Turkmenistan still fly their iL-76’s?
    Also there is a single iL-62 cargo aircraft in operation – there are pictures doing the rounds in social media of the aircraft flying relief ops..
    S

    Reply

    1. They’re both operating as cargo flights. The list here is generally for passenger flights (except the IL76 of course)

  19. Hi Sam,

    thanks for sharing! I was also interested in seeing which type of aircraft flew where recently, so I built a small website to track exactly that: https://www.flightstats.pro

    It’s still work-in-progress and the data is not that complete outside of EU and US, because flight data that is affordable for me is hard to come by 😉 But for example, you can see a couple of routes where the Iran Air A300 flew to in the last 90 days. Maybe it’s useful. I’ll also be adding a routes map soon.

    Keep up the great posts!

    Reply

  20. My first plane was the fokker28 in 2005 with Icaro, after I flew several times the 737-200 from Aerogal and Icaro, I don’t know the last time, maybe 2011. First 757 in 2010 with AA, 767-300 with LAN, and 757 and md80 with Delta on july 2019. At least I’ve flew some rare aircrafts

    Reply

  21. Unfortunately the Delta MD-88 ans MD-90 are scheduled for retirement by the end of June and Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge have just retired their 767s.

    Reply

  22. Hi Sam,
    I flew on a Xian MA60 in central Africa last year. I believe it was for Air Congo. Don’t know if it’s still flying though.
    Have a great day and keep the good work !

    Reply

  23. Fairchild Metroliners are becoming rare too. I think there’s still a few cargo operators in Canada and Australia but otherwise, not many passenger carriers. Also, DC-3s are still running in New Zealand for Air Chathams and RNZAF running joy flights. Great stuff!

    Reply

  24. I believe Canadian North no longer flies the 737-200 but it does fly the -300. Also, Nolinor flies the -200, -300, -400, and the Convair 540. Worth another visit I’m sure!

    It also might be worth checking to see if Air North in the Yukon still flies the HS 748. They were recently, and I believe the Indian and possibly the Nepalese military still operate a fleet of them.

    Reply

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