United Airlines, the opening carrier to formulate the Boeing 737 a staple of its fleet 41 years ago, ended with the last of those jets in an airborne party that stretched all along from Virginia to California.The jet was the final of 94 Boeing 737s that United has grounded from September 2008. Analysts reported that this painful plan cost thousands of United workers their jobs but probably saved the carrier from financial catastrophe ever since the travel market collapsed last winter.

United's last Boeing 737, flying as Flight 737, started off from Washington Dulles International Airport before dawn and touched down at every one of the carrier's hubs as it prepared its way to a massive maintenance base in San Francisco.

The jet's final flights also manifest the conclusion of an era at Chicago-based United, which had a hand in building the 737, the bids best-selling traveler jet of all time.