Boeing 727 after airline industry deregulation and rode it all the way into the digital age.

With the three-engine jet doing the heavy lifting, FedEx went from $109 million in airfreight revenues in 1977 to $35 billion companywide in 2007, when the 727's phaseout began in earnest.

During ceremonies Friday at FedEx Express hubs in Indianapolis and Memphis, FedEx's primary base for 727 general maintenance.

More than 1,000 people are expected for a 1:30 p.m. retirement ceremony at the FedEx Express World Hub in Memphis.

If tears are shed on the tarmac, it will be testament to the high regard in which pilots and FedEx veterans hold the plane.

"It's quite a historic airplane and certainly to the population here at Federal Express, maintenance as well as pilots, it was the very mainstay of what we call our flight operations fleet," said Paul Cassel, who served as a 727 captain on his way toward becoming senior vice president of flight operations.

"Its departure touches most of the people who have been around Federal Express, certainly for the last 35 years," said Cassel, who shows how long he's been with the 40-year-old company by not calling it FedEx Express. "It is something they are proud of, and its service to the company and the customers has been tremendous. Highly reliable airplane for delivering packages."

Before Congress deregulated airlines in 1977, FedEx flew Dassault Falcons, small business jets with limited cargo capacity. On Jan. 14, 1978, the company took delivery of its first 727, purchased from a passenger airline. Company founder Frederick W. Smith told several hundred employees and guests at the time, "This is not the end of anything. It is simply the beginning."

A single 727 could replace three, even four Falcons flying into popular destinations, Cassel said. Boeing assembly line and eventually became the largest single owner of 727s, peaking at about 170 in the 1990s.

"For more than three decades, our Boeing 727 fleet was instrumental in our company's domestic growth," said David J. Bronczek, president of FedEx Express. "(Friday) we are opening a new chapter for company growth and opportunity as we continue to modernize our global fleet with more technologically advanced, fuel-efficient, lower-emission cargo jets."

Fleet modernization, including replacement of 727s with FedEx Corp.'s programs to reduce emissions and fuel consumption and increase profits by $1.7 billion a year by 2016.

Cassel said the last revenue flight of a FedEx 727 will likely occur in South America, where one is assigned to intra-country flights. The company was down to five 727s still in revenue service this month, but none will be flying after June 30.

Capt. Chip Groner, a 35-year FedEx on the map as an overnight express carrier."

Capt. Jeanene Urban is FedEx's most senior 727 crew member with 27.5 years in the cockpit and an accumulated 7,921 hours and 54 minutes logged in the plane as flight engineer, co-pilot and captain.

She and Cassel described the 727 as fun to fly, highly maneuverable and responsive, more like a sports car than a lumbering family van or station wagon.

"The 727 is that little sports car that, when that light turns green, you're gone," Urban said. She plans to train to fly an Airbus now.

Urban said her nostalgia for the plane will be satisfied somewhat by the retired 727s that FedEx has donated to institutions around the country. The donations turn up at aircraft maintenance schools, airport fire departments, even The Children's Museum of Memphis and Mid-South Community College's aviation program in West Memphis.

Urban said, "It would be nice if I could park this in my garage. I don't want this to happen yet. I want them to keep flying."

Wayne Risher on Twitter

Tweets by @gwrisher

(c)2013 The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)

Visit The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.) at www.commercialappeal.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

(c) The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.