Ship 55 is towed to its departure gate at Houston in June, 2010. Photo: Don Thomas - OPShots.net
May 17, 2011. The first Continental 767-200 (N68155, 767-224ER, cn 30434) to retire from the new CO/UA fleet was flown to Goodyear, Arizona (GYR) today for storage, and rumored onward delivery to an unnamed Russian carrier. Delivered to Continental in February 2001, the aircraft is just over ten years in age and the first 767 to be retired from the Continental fleet. This aircraft flew many miles spanning the globe and visiting such places as Zurich, Glasgow, Milan, Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Montreal and more. It had the distinction of being the aircraft that inaugurated the first airline service by an American carrier in over seven years to Geneva, Switzerland when it operated a round-trip from Newark on March 7, 2003, complete with a water-cannon salute.
With the integration of the two post-merger fleets, United Continental Holdings (the current name for the combined companies), will undoubtedly be making some adjustments to its inventory of nearly 700 aircraft, and more tweaking is sure to come. The merger of the two legacy carriers will create the second-largest airline in the world behind Delta, which combined with Northwest Airlines in 2008.
-Chuck Slusarczyk Jr. – OPShots.net
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