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American Airlines Legend Azriel Blackman Dies at 100 After 80-Year Mechanic Career
Azriel Blackman, record-holding mechanic known for his 80 years at American Airlines and dedication to aircraft maintenance, died aged 100.
The gist
Azriel Blackman’s unparalleled 80-year career at American Airlines set a world record before his death at age 100.
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Azriel Blackman, a revered figure in the aviation maintenance world, passed away on July 24 at the age of 100, concluding a career that spanned over eight decades exclusively with American Airlines. His dedication and longevity in a single airline make him a rare and legendary presence in the history of commercial aviation. Blackman began working with American Airlines' predecessor in 1942 and remained a key mechanic until his retirement well into the 21st century, witnessing monumental changes in aircraft technology and operations.
Blackman’s journey in aviation started at the age of 16 after graduating from Aviation High School in Manhattan. With parental consent, he took an apprenticeship in the sheet metal shop at American Export Airlines, earning just 50 cents per hour. His early work involved maintaining Sikorsky flying boats out of New York’s LaGuardia Marine Air Terminal, a far cry from the sophisticated jets he would later service, showing his direct link to aviation history from its golden age to the modern era.
Throughout his extensive career, Blackman worked on nearly every type of aircraft in American Airlines’ fleet, progressing from piston-engine aircraft and flying boats to the cutting-edge Boeing 777s. Stationed as an Aviation Maintenance Technician Crew Chief at JFK Airport, he became a mentor to generations of mechanics, passing on decades of experience. His hands-on knowledge bridged eras, embodying the evolution from propeller-driven planes to the high-tech jets that dominate international air travel today.
American Airlines praised Blackman as a true icon whose professionalism and mentorship touched countless colleagues. His influence went beyond the technical, shaping the culture within the airline’s maintenance community. Blackman’s passion for his work was evident, with accounts noting he arrived at the hangar hours before his official start time, emphasizing a devotion that inspired peers and set a high standard across the industry.
In 2017, American Airlines honored Blackman’s extraordinary tenure with a special dedication of a Boeing 777-200, registration N751AN. This act marked a first for the airline to name an aircraft after a mechanic, featuring a commemorative plaque highlighting his status as the Guinness World Record holder for the longest career as an airline mechanic. The aircraft bore the affectionate nickname '7BK' among maintenance crews, symbolizing his lasting legacy within the fleet.
Blackman celebrated the milestone of 75 years at American Airlines with this ceremonial aircraft dedication and continued working five more years, reaching an incredible 80 years with the same company. Such a prolonged career at a single airline is virtually unprecedented in the aviation industry. His record-setting longevity and continuous frontline service reflect a rare blend of endurance, skill, and passion for aviation maintenance.
His life story is an exceptional chronicle of the airline industry's progression, from the early days of flying boats to modern widebody jets. Blackman’s career offers a living timeline of aviation technology and maintenance practices, enriched by his first-hand experiences during the transformation of air travel throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. His passing marks the end of a remarkable chapter in aviation history, leaving behind a legacy integral to American Airlines and the broader aviation community.
Frequently asked questions
- How long did Azriel Blackman work for American Airlines?
- Azriel Blackman worked for American Airlines and its predecessor for more than 80 years, starting in 1942 and remaining active until 2022.
- What record did Azriel Blackman hold?
- He held the Guinness World Record for the longest career as an airline mechanic, all spent with a single airline.
- How did American Airlines honor Blackman during his career?
- In 2017, American Airlines dedicated a Boeing 777-200 aircraft to him, featuring a commemorative plaque recognizing his record-setting maintenance career.
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American Airlines Begins Unlocking A321XLR Business Class Suite Doors After FAA Approval
In late 2025, we saw American Airlines start to take delivery of Airbus A321XLRs , the carrier's new long range, narrow body planes (though they're initially being used primarily for premium transcontinental flights). These planes have new business class seats , and one of the features was supposed to be that they feature privacy doors. Initially the airline wasn't actually allowed to use those doors, though that's now changing. However, it's only happening over a few months. American gets A321XLR business class doors certified Aircraft seat certification is a real pain nowadays for airlines, and can greatly delay new aircraft. In the case of American's new A321XLR business class seats, they fortunately got certified pretty quickly… for the most part. The catch is that the seats have privacy doors, but up until now, they've been locked, and couldn't be used by passengers. American's A321XLRs have new business class seats That has now finally changed. As reported by JonNYC , the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has finally certified the doors for use, meaning these can now be opened and closed. However, the business class doors on all planes won't be unlocked overnight. Instead, the doors are initially being unlocked on one plane, with the registration code N302NY , which is also the most recent A321XLR that the airline took delivery of. Then over the coming weeks ("through the fall") the remaining planes will also have these suite doors unlocked, but with a phased approach. American notes how tech ops has to activate the doors. slight difference in statement on dates: pic.twitter.com/x7CQsxZI2p — JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 18, 2026 Ultimately doors at business class seats aren't some sort of a game changer, though if the planes have them installed, then it's of course nice to have the option of using them. It's perhaps interesting to note that FAA requirements require more flight attendants when planes have suites with doors. You need one flight attendant for every 50 passengers (or fraction thereof), and then an additional flight attendant if there are doors. So since these planes are equipped with 155 seats and suites have doors, they require five flight attendants. Then again, that's the minimum number of flight attendants with which American staffs these flights anyway. I'm curious why the door activation takes so long American only has six A321XLRs, so I'm curious, does anyone have any theories as to why it's taking months to unlock these doors? The doors are physically on the planes, so my assumption was just that the "key" to unlock the doors wasn't being given to crews, to ensure that they weren't accidentally used. Is there more to this, and why is tech ops required to get involved? Like, how heavy is the maintenance required to complete this project? Or even with the FAA certifying the seats, is there some additional work required with each plane? American has actually had pretty good luck with seat certification, all things considered. United still doesn't have its new Dreamliner business class seat doors certified, while Delta seemingly can't get its new A321neo seats certified , to the point that the airline is likely ditching its seat manufacturer . American is only progressively unlocking business class suite doors Bottom line The FAA has finally certified American's new A321XLR business class suite doors. Up until now, these doors have been locked due to lack of certification, but that has finally changed. However, don't expect them to be in use across the fleet effective immediately. While one plane now has the doors unlocked (and it should start flying passengers today), the other planes will only be activated in phases, "through the fall."
Emirates completes 100th aircraft retrofit in unprecedented $5 billion overhaul program
Emirates shared that it has officially refurbished its 100th aircraft as part of what it calls the largest retrofit program ever undertaken by a carrier. The milestone comes just under four years after the project began in November 2022, with work carried out entirely in-house at the airline's Engineering hangars in Dubai. So far, the effort has touched 47 Airbus A380s and 53 Boeing 777s, giving each one a full nose-to-tail overhaul. That's roughly 28 aircraft refreshed every year since the program launched — a pace Emirates says has required rewriting much of the playbook on how retrofits of this scale are done. We've just hit a major milestone. Emirates has retrofitted its 100th aircraft. With a collective 4.4 million man hours invested, we continue to deliver an elevated customer experience across our network. https://t.co/BIFI4bKs8Q pic.twitter.com/DyY4Lh7LvJ — Emirates (@emirates) July 14, 2026 About 20 more aircraft are expected to be finished by the end of this year, pushing the airline well past the halfway point on a 219-aircraft plan backed by $5 billion in investment. The scope of the labor behind those numbers is considerable. Emirates says more than 400 engineers and technicians have logged a combined 4.4 million man hours over 44 months to get the job done. Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, called it a significant achievement, noting that a project of this size and complexity, which was handled entirely in-house, demanded a level of planning, precision, and craftsmanship the airline hadn't had to apply at this scale before. A cabin-by-cabin rebuild #image_title Every retrofit involves the aircraft's interior being taken apart down to the studs and rebuilt piece by piece. Depending on the aircraft, that means engineers are working with more than 4,000 individual parts for an A380 and over 2,500 for a 777, all removed, refreshed or replaced and reinstalled with precision. Each retrofitted aircraft has also come out of the hangar with a new Premium Economy cabin, part of a broader push to bring the product to more routes across the network. In total, Emirates has installed more than 3,800 new Premium Economy seats through the program so far. To manage a job of this scale, the Emirates Engineering team came up with some unconventional solutions of its own. Modified catering trucks are used to ferry large components between the retrofit workshop and the aircraft inside the hangars, while the team developed zonal tracking systems and specialized storage procedures to keep parts moving efficiently. Engineers also designed and built custom equipment to access hard-to-reach areas of each aircraft's interior. More than 100 suppliers have been involved in supporting the effort. How the program came together Emirates first announced the retrofit initiative in November 2021, initially covering 105 aircraft. The first plane to go through the process, an A380, entered the Dubai hangars in November 2022. As customer demand grew, the airline expanded its scope twice in 2024 — first to 191 aircraft in May, then to 219 by the end of that year. The first retrofitted Boeing 777 returned to commercial service that August. The work has grown more ambitious over time, as well. In May 2026, engineers completed a two-to-three-class retrofit on an A380 that included structural changes to the aircraft, marking the first time a Premium Economy cabin has been added to the upper deck. Emirates says thousands of kilograms of leather, fabric, and other materials removed from the aircraft are being upcycled into limited-edition items, including luggage sold under its "Aircrafted by Emirates" collection. The airline has also turned repurposed Economy Class seat fabric into more than 4,000 backpacks, which have been distributed to children in 11 countries. RELATED Emirates unveils more cities for retrofitted A380s, B777s, new long-range A350s
Air New Zealand to Retrofit Boeing 777 Fleet with New Business Class Seats in 2027
Air New Zealand has just unveiled plans to retrofit its entire Boeing 777 with new business class seats starting in 2027. However, these won't be the same new business class seats that are currently being installed on the Boeing 787 fleet… and that's probably a good thing? Air New Zealand plans reverse herringbone seats for 777s Air New Zealand intends to introduce a new business class product on its entire fleet of seven Boeing 777-300ERs (that excludes the ex-Cathay Pacific frames). Specifically, the airline will be installing reverse herringbone seats with doors on these aircraft, based on the Collins Aerospace Elevation platform. The cabin will feature 44 seats (just as it does now), with seats having 43″ of pitch. All seats will have direct aisle access and privacy doors, and center seats will have sliding privacy dividers between them. Seat back entertainment will consist of 18″ monitors with bluetooth audio. The seats will also have USB-A and USB-C charging, but no wireless charging. Air New Zealand's plan is to reconfigure the first aircraft with these interiors as of March 2027, with hopes of having the plane in service by May 2027. Of course when we're talking about aircraft interiors, it's especially important to emphasize that delays are common, and even likely. As before, the planes will feature 342 seats, with the same number of business class seats. However, we're going to see two premium economy seats removed and two economy seats added, as obviously a little more space was needed to make room for these seats. New Air New Zealand 777 business class cabin New Air New Zealand 777 business class cabin Here's what's Air New Zealand Chief Customer & Digital Officer, Jeremy O'Brien, had to say about this project: "Our current Business Premier and Economy cabins have served us exceptionally well since we welcomed the first 777-300ER into our fleet in late 2010, however the time is right to raise the bar once again. Alongside our retrofitted 787-9 Dreamliners, these upgrades will deliver a more consistent experience across Air New Zealand's international fleet, with a design and production standard that matches the world-class Kiwi service we're proud to provide onboard. Our Boeing 777-300ER aircraft continue to play a key role in our international network, and upgrading the interiors means we can keep these aircraft flying for longer, while reducing the maintenance demands that come with an older cabin product." New Air New Zealand 777 business class seat This looks great, even if the inconsistency is odd Air New Zealand's new 777 business class is long overdue, and customers should be very happy about this. There's nothing cutting edge about it, but it puts the product in the category of being very competitive. That's a massive contrast to the current herringbone seats you have on these planes, which I'd argue are among the worst business class seats (at least purpose-built long haul ones) flying nowadays. Now, from a consistency standpoint, I do find it strange how Air New Zealand is currently installing two different new business class seats on two different fleet types. In some cases that's necessary due to cabin width, but clearly that's not the case here, since the 777 cabin is actually wider than the 787 cabin. Ironically, I think Air New Zealand's new off the shelf business class on the 777 is a superior product to the custom product on the 787 , which doesn't even have doors. New Air New Zealand 787 business class cabin New Air New Zealand 787 business class seat Bottom line Air New Zealand will be installing a new business class product on its Boeing 777 fleet, which is long overdue. The airline will be installing a familiar reverse herringbone product with doors, which represents a major upgrade over the carrier's current herringbone seats on these planes. The only thing I can't make sense of is why the airline is installing a different product than on the Boeing 787 fleet. Admittedly I actually think this product is better than the new 787 product. Regardless, it's nice to see Air New Zealand's entire long haul fleet get a refresh. What do you make of Air New Zealand's new 777 business class?
Essential Maintenance Tips for Pilots Heading to AirVenture Oshkosh and Beyond
With EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin around the corner, thousands of pilots are preparing to take their aircraft on long cross country trips. Inevitably, some of those pilots will find themselves facing a challenging maintenance issue far from home. Preparation is the key here, and a little advance planning can go a long way toward reducing your risk and salvaging your trip. Here are some of the most important do's and don'ts for your next cross-country adventure:
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