Summary
- Owned by Jordan Aviation and presently leased to Moldova’s FlyOne, JY-JAC is the world’s oldest active A320 aircraft.
- It has a manufacturer serial number and construction number of 029 (!).
- Multiple carriers have used the aircraft over the years, including Ansett Australia, Bulgaria’s Balkan Holidays, Air Scotland, and Syrian Arab.
The Airbus A320 operates more flights worldwide than any other aircraft type. Of the 5,800+ active A320ceos, ch-aviation shows that the oldest is JY-JAC. It is a mere 34.9 years old. It first flew in January 1989 and was delivered to its first airline user in April of that year.
Introducing JY-JAC
While now owned by Jordan Aviation, this specific aircraft was delivered to Ansett Australia as VH-HYG. It later flew for Balkan Airlines or BH Air (as LZ-BHA), Vietnam’s Pacific Airlines (leased; LZ-BHA), and Greece Airways (SX-BLX). The latter was used by Air Scotland, a long-defunct operator which used Greece Airways’ air operator’s certificate.
Data from ch-aviation shows that Greece Airways retired it in November 2006, when it was already 17 years old, after which it was stored. In 2008, it was in the hands of Jordan Aviation (JY-JAC) and was quickly and briefly leased to Syrian Arab (SyrianAir). Come early 2023, Flightradar24 shows that Jordan Aviation often flew it between Amman and Cairo, Istanbul, and Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh.
Now leased to FlyOne
According to Flightradar24, JY-JAC flew from Amman to Chișinău, Moldova, on June 13th, 2023, beginning the lease for that country’s FlyOne. It is a role in which the aircraft still operates, with no publicly stated information as to when it is contracted to end. The photo at the start of the article shows its current hybrid and striking livery.
Analysis of flight data for October 31st-November 16th shows that FlyOne’s use of the world’s oldest active A320 has seen it fly to 12 airports, as shown below.
Image: GCMap
In this period, it only flew to Dublin, 1,607 miles (2,587 km) away, on one occasion: the 31st. Given the length of haul and timezone changes, the service operates overnight. That day, JY-JAC arrived in Ireland at 23:05, left at 00:27 (on the 1st), and arrived back at the fun time of 05:27. It was nearly eight hours from taking off from Chișinău to landing back.
November 17th
When writing this article, JY-JAC is operating between Chișinău and Munich, the carrier’s 19th most-served route by seats for sale this winter. It was launched in July 2023, one of the carrier’s multiple new routes this summer. Operating as ‘Fia Six One Five’, it left the Moldovan capital at 09:01, just one minute after the off-chocks time of 09:00.
It touched down in Germany at 09:59 local, 41 minutes before scheduled. Not bad for a relatively short flight, showing ‘block time’ in action. This is what is published by carriers and includes taxi time at both airports, flight time, and a period for short delays.
It is influenced by slots, an airport’s congestion, the need for good punctuality, aircraft utilization, and the need to have competitive timings, especially if an airline sells through a global distribution system that orders flights by time. Onward to JY-JAC’s return sector as the world’s oldest active A320 builds up (chocks up?) more cycles and hours.
Have you flown JY-JAC? If so, share your experiences in the comments.
Sources: ch-aviation, Flightradar24, Cirium