How old is the aeroplane you are flying on?

Few people expect luxury while flying, but these days, even the basics seem to be in bad shape.

It’s not uncommon to find your tray table broken, the in-flight entertainment system not working and your seat cushion worn — all of which can make you think, how old is this plane anyway?

It won’t be an issue for passengers who board the shiny new Boeing 787 Dreamliner when it enters commercial service perhaps sometime next year if everything goes smoothly during its testing period.

The fuel-efficient aircraft will boast all-new interiors with state-of-the-art lighting, bigger windows, roomier overhead bins, higher humidity levels in the passenger cabin and “more personal space,” according to Boeing.

But for now, the reality for many air travellers is that most of their journeys take place on planes that have been in service for a decade or more and show it, though in ways that have no impact on their safety — like worn interiors, broken creature comforts and less than spotless conditions.

More ominous

That doesn’t stop some passengers from wondering if interior wear and tear translates to something more ominous.

“It’s inevitable you draw the link, even subconsciously sometimes, between whether a plane is cosmetically well maintained with whether it’s safe,” said Joe Brancatelli, who flies dozens of times a year and runs JoeSentMe.com, a Web site for business travellers.

“That is a very tenuous link, it’s more psychological than reality, but people make that link.”

Watch the Dreamliner’s maiden flight in December. In fact, it has been a while since most Americans have experienced that new plane smell.

The average age of the fleet of the seven large US passenger airlines — including American, Alaska, Continental, the merged Delta and Northwest, Southwest, United and US Airways — is about 14 years old, according to The Airline Monitor.

It found American and Delta-Northwest had the oldest fleets, at about 16 years on average.

As of the end of 2008, a small percentage of the merged Delta-Northwest’s planes dated back to the late 1960s.

US fleets are among the oldest in the world, said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia. “I’m not really sure that people should read that much into that,” Aboulafia said.

“From a safety standpoint, a lot of the older planes were built tougher and with proper maintenance, there’s no reason why a plane can’t stay safe for 25 to 30 years.”