Delta Celebrates Boeing 777 Retirement with Final Transcontinental Flight

Delta Air Lines operated its final Boeing 777 flight on Saturday, marking the end of an era that began in 1999 when the Atlanta-based carrier took its first delivery of the type.

Flight 8777 flew from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport for the last flight, before continuing on to Victorville, California, for storage.  The 777 was typically used on international routes and not on transcon routes but Delta obviously made an exception for the final flight.

Over an 11-year period, the airline took delivery of 18 777s and recently renovated the interiors with new Delta One business-class suites. The 28 fully lie-flat enclosed seats were 22” to 24” in width and extended to a 78” bed.

The plane’s retirement came amidst the coronavirus pandemic-induced downturn in travel that left airlines struggling to fill seats.

When the Boeing 777 joined Delta’s fleet in 1999, it allowed the airline to open “new non-stop, ultra-long-haul markets that only it could fly at that time,” said Gil West, the airline’s chief operating officer, in May of this year when the airline announced its plans to retire the fleet.

The move comes three years after Delta retired its final Boeing 747s.  The Queen of the Skies’ final commercial flight took place on December 15, 2017 from Seoul’s Incheon International Airport to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)