Metro Arrives at End of Line

The final Metro airplane was delivered by Fairchild Dornier at the end of March, ending a production run of 1,053 of Metros and Merlins series over a span of 35 years. More than 800 remain in service.
The last Metro 23 was delivered to National Jet Aviation Services, a charter service based at Zenlienople, PA.

The Merlin was the first in-house design by Ed Swearingen's company, which had built a reputation remanufacturing executive aircraft from existing airframes. The Merlin incorporated key features of the top corporate aircraft of the time, and made its debut in 1965. The first Metro airliner -- a stretched Merlin -- flew in 1971. Perimeter Aviation in Canada operates the high-time Metro, which has over 35,700 flight hours.