Is United Retiring Its First Boeing 777-200? Jet Placed in Long-Term Storage

On November 29, 2025, United Airlines (UA) placed its very first Boeing 777-200 into long-term storage (as reported in planespotters.net), possibly marking the conclusion three decades of continuous service, though one has to note that the same aircraft has made it to its current storage location at Victorville’s Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) before.

Simple Flying has hinted that this aircraft, which is registered as N777UA and delivered was delivered to this one of the Big Three airline of the United States on May 15, 1995, has been retired. With the amid supply-chain headwinds affecting its original Pratt & Whitney engines, there might be a case to argue for its retirement. The publication did reach out to United Airlines, which didn’t respond immediately to their request.

First flown June 12, 1994, Boeing 777 type entered commercial service on June 7, 1995 — when United operated the debut route from London Heathrow (LHR) to Washington Dulles (IAD).

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the 777 was:

• The first airliner designed entirely using 3-D computer-aided design tools
• The first completely new commercial jet aircraft developed by the Boeing Company in more than a decade

According to data from planespotters.net, United currently operates 64 Boeing 777-200s. These have an average age of 26.5 years, making it the aircraft type with the highest average age. Earlier this year, Simple Flying had also carried out an analysis of its Boeing 777-200s that were more than 30 years old.

Registration	Line Number	Year Built	Age in 2025	Notes
N774UA	2	1994	31 years	Oldest 777 flying in the world; United’s oldest 777 second 777 ever built (first used for testing)
N771UA	3	1994	31 years	One of the earliest 777s delivered to United in 1995.
N773UA	4	1994	31 years	Sister aircraft to N771UA among the first 777s produced
N772UA	5	1994	31 years	One of the original 1994-built United 777s.
N777UA	7	1995	30 years	First 777 ever delivered to any airline operated first commercial 777 flight (LHR–IAD)
N768UA	11	1995	30 years	Delivered one month after N777UA Still in post-merger Continental-style livery
N769UA	12	1995	30 years	Delivered two days after N768UA Currently wears United’s newest livery

Currently, the first of United’s Boeing 777-200 is residing in the aircraft boneyard that is Victorville’s Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA). The same publication has also used data from Ch-Aviation and claimed that “131 Boeing 777s have been scrapped as of mid-2025“.

777 Variant	Aircraft Scrapped
777-200ER	59
777-300	8
777-200LR	5
777-300ER	15
777-200	44

Why This Faintly Possible Retirement Now: Supply-Chain and Economic Pressures

United’s possible decision to store its first 777-200 reflects a broader challenge facing older aircraft in the current economic and regulatory climate. According to the report announcing the storage, supply chain challenges surrounding Pratt & Whitney engines forced the airline to park several of its legacy 777-200s,

As the aircraft age, maintenance becomes costlier and parts harder to source. With technological advances in newer wide-bodies and more efficient models such as the Airbus A350-900 (which United had planned earlier as a replacement for many 777-200ERs) the economic case for retaining decades-old airframes becomes weaker.

All in All

For now, we don’t quite have a confirmation whether United has retired its first Boeing 777-200. We do know that until November 2016, N777UA was configured “F8C40Y218” and was re-configured “C28Y336” Nov 2016. We also know that until 2005, the aircraft was named “Working Together” and has been stored at SCLA between 29 Jul 2021 – 26 May 2022.

Whether N777US has been retired is something no one knows for sure, and we will have to wait for United to confirm this.