As one of Europe’s (and indeed the world’s) leading budget carriers, Ryanair has a large and relatively uniform fleet. According to current fleet data from ch-aviation, the wider Ryanair Group (including subsidiaries such as Buzz, Lauda Europe, and Ryanair UK) currently has a total of 632 aircraft at its disposal. These jets are 15.9 years old on average, albeit with a wide spread.

Indeed, the carrier’s 209 Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 jets are just 3.4 years old on average, but other aircraft from previous generations of narrowbody twinjets bring the overall mean figure back up. At the most extreme end of the age spectrum, there are 47 jets at the Ryanair Group that are 20 years old or more at the time of writing. Let’s examine where the oldest of each non-MAX aircraft type flies.

The Oldest & Rarest

Credit: Great Circle Map

Ryanair’s oldest active jet across the board is a 737-700 that flies for Buzz, its Polish arm. This 148-seater is 27.5 years old, and the only 737-700 in the Ryanair Group. It first flew in 1999 and served Azurra Air, Rio Sul, Maersk Air, Sterling Airlines, and LAN before joining Ryanair in 2015 as EI-SEV. It was re-registered as SP-RUM in 2023 and transferred to Buzz, where it remains today.

As seen above, Flightradar24 data for the first week of July shows that the jet is primarily based in Wroclaw but occasionally flies from elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe and is used on flights to coastal resort destinations. Of these, Palma de Mallorca is among the most popular. According to Planespotters.net, the jet briefly had a 60-seat VIP charter layout. The airline commented on the unique aircraft in a statement.

“The Ryanair corporate jet was booked by many prestigious clients from Champions League football teams to world-famous pop stars, who enjoyed an unbeatable Ryanair corporate jet service and excellent rates.”

What About The Oldest 737-800?

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

As detailed in the table below, the larger and more popular 737-800 variant makes up the backbone of the Ryanair Group’s fleet. These 396 jets are, on average, 13.9 years old, with the oldest at the time of writing being the 21.9-year-old EI-DCJ. Ryanair ordered this aircraft in January of 2002, and it first flew in August 2004, joining the Irish budget carrier a month later. It has 189 seats.

EI-DCJ has led a charmed life since the start of July. Data from ch-aviation shows that the jet is officially based in Malaga (AGP), but the diverse nature of Ryanair’s point-to-point route network and the varied needs of a busy budget carrier mean that it has spent plenty of time away from home this month. It started in July, operating round trips from Malaga to Ibiza, Marseille, and Amsterdam.

These were followed by Glasgow, Brussels, Tangier, Nuremberg, Cork, Marrakesh, Barcelona, Rabat, and Vienna. However, after flying from Malaga to Rome on July 6, it then spent the next few days flying largely within Italy before relocating to operate rotations out of Cologne. Most recently, it has been flying out of London.

An Aging Airbus A320

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

With SP-RUM being Ryanair’s oldest aircraft and EI-DCJ ranking third, sandwiched between them is a 180-seat 22.1-year-old Lauda Europe Airbus A320 that bears the registration 9H-LOW. This jet flew for SilkAir from August 2004 to October 2019 before joining Lauda. At the start of July, it was primarily based in Zagreb and served Dublin, London, Rome, and Malta.

The jet also served destinations such as Palermo, Kos, and Naples from the Croatian capital before relocating to Vienna (VIE) on July 3. Since then, it has largely served Mediterranean holiday destinations from the Austrian capital, such as Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Catania, Alicante, Thessaloniki, Malaga, Ibiza, Preveza, Rhodes, and Olbia.