Alaska Airlines retires the 737-400

Alaska Airlines, with little fanfare, retired it's last Boeing 737-400 passenger aircraft earlier this month. The airline's 737-400 Combis were retired in October, while a sole 737-400F freighter remains in service. Alaska has converted two 737-700s into freighters to replace the -400s, the first such conversions.

Boeing 737-4Q8 MSN 25095 L/N 2266 F/F 4/3/92
Alaska Airlines N754AS 4/17/92 - 7/15/14
Safair ZS-JRI 11/6/14 - present

N754AS (above) was Alaska's first 737-400 delivered in April 1992, one of 22 leased new from International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). An additional 17 were ordered by Alaska directly, while one used aircraft was acquired in 1996. The final three deliveries were in 1999, giving Alaska a total of 40.

Four aircraft were later converted to Combis to replace 737-200C flying in Alaska, while two were converted to pure freighters.

Retirement was gradual with the in service fleet total (as of January 1st) first seeing a reduction to 37 in 2009, 33 in 2010, 31 in 2011, 29 in 2014, 27 in 2015, 26 in 2016 and 16 by the start of 2017. Boeing 737-800s and -900ERs have replaced the type. No accidents or serious incidents were recorded by Alaska's 737-400 fleet.