G-CELH - Boeing 737-300
Manufacturer Information
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage cross-section and nose with two underwing turbofans. Envisioned in 1964, the initial 737-100 made its first flight in April 1967 and entered service in February 1968 with Lufthansa. The lengthened 737-200 entered service in April 1968. It evolved through four generations, offering several variants for 85 to 215 passengers.
Development began in 1979 for the 737's first major revision, which was originally introduced as the 'new generation' of the 737. Boeing wanted to increase capacity and range, incorporating improvements to upgrade the aircraft to modern specifications, while also retaining commonality with previous 737 variants. In 1980, preliminary aircraft specifications of the variant, dubbed 737-300, were released at the Farnborough Airshow. This first major upgrade series was later renamed to the 737 Classic series.
History of the reg
With an exceptional service life of 32 years, our 737-300 is the longest serving and oldest aircraft in our fleet. It was built in Renton (US) and originally delivered to Lufthansa (Germany) under the registration D-ABXD in October 1986. The aircraft did not change hands until December 1997, when it was registered by Air Atlanta Icelandic (Iceland), under the reg TF-ABL and leased from Lufthansa. The aircraft changed hands several times in the next year.
Air Atlantic Icelandic then leased the aircraft to Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudi Arabia) in December 1997 under the same reg. This was returned in April 1998, prior to being leased by British Airways (UK) in May 1998 - returned shortly in October 1998. The aircraft was returned to Lufthansa in November 1998 under the reg D-ABXD, and was finally transferred to Jet2 (UK) as its final operator in August 2004, under the reg G-CELH. The aircraft served for 14 years with Jet2 before being retired in September 2018.
Our History with the Aircraft
A mainstay of the Aviator Gin Bar, and one of our most famous features, our bar is made from a long section of the 737-300. Some of the livery is removed, leaving a mostly consistent grey coating. The inclusion of LED lights and gin bottles in the windows makes this an eye-catching feature.
