Boeing 777...

[C]

ex-BA G-ZZZE, and latterly with VARIG of Brazil. is to be scrapped, the first of the breed to do so...

You don't realise some times how long it's been around!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1739180/posts

[expat]

Would be interesting to know the hours and cycles she has because at 11 years old she is still a relative youngster in aviation terms.

Matt

[Chris_F]

According to the linked thread it seems there is a lack of supply for used for 777 parts (as you'd expect).  Now that planes are at the decade mark I could see how the demand for parts would be on the rise.  If the only source is new Boeing parts then it's entirely possible that even a perfecly good 777 could be more valuable as parts than as a working airframe.  So why not recycle it?

It could be that there is nothing wrong with this plane and is only being scrapped because of the high parts value.

[RitterKreuz]

could be - you could almost pay for an airplane by parting it out in some cases.

Sounds like she has had a hard life as it would go for airliners. IMHO

[C]

According to the linked thread it seems there is a lack of supply for used for 777 parts (as you'd expect).  Now that planes are at the decade mark I could see how the demand for parts would be on the rise.  If the only source is new Boeing parts then it's entirely possible that even a perfecly good 777 could be more valuable as parts than as a working airframe.  So why not recycle it?

It could be that there is nothing wrong with this plane and is only being scrapped because of the high parts value.

You are probably right. I think combine this with the fact that development of the model (and others) has happened quite quickly in the past decade or so (this being a bog standard 777, not an ER etc...), so airliners are having a shorter life with their original operators.