The last C-17 Globemaster III built for the Air Force landed Thursday at Joint Base Charleston, the base whose airlift wings received the service’s first C-17 two decades ago.

The jet, known as P-223, rolled off Boeing’s assembly line in Long Beach, Calif., at sunrise, and Air Force leaders thanked the Boeing employees who have built the service’s C-17s for the past 20 years, according to Joint Base Charleston. The arrival marks the completion of C-17 production for the Air Force, the base said.

“Even though this is the last C-17 to be delivered to the Air Force, we know that the Boeing employees will stand behind us and all 222 C-17s we operate for many years to come,” Gen. Paul Selva, commander of Air Mobility Command, said in Long Beach, according to the base.

The crew was handpicked from active-duty, Reserve and Air National Guard units. Lt. Gen. James Jackson, commander of Air Force Reserve Command, took off from Long Beach as Boeing employees waved American flags. Selva later flew the jet alongside Lt. Col. Scott Torrico of the Reserve’s 701st Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, and Lt. Gen. Stanley Clarke, director of the Air National Guard, landed it in Charleston, according to the base.

Along the way, Selva handed the keys to P-223 to Staff Sgt. James Regan, a crew chief with the 437th Maintenance Squadron.

“Words can’t describe how I felt being handed the keys to the last C-17,” Regan said. “Speechless, really.”

A crowd of service members, residents and families greeted the jet. Dennis Muilenburg, president and chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, spoke at the ceremony, according to the Air Force.

The base’s active-duty 437th Airlift Wing and the Reserve’s 315th Airlift Wing took delivery of the first C-17 to enter the Air Force’s inventory on June 14, 1993, according to the Air Force. Tech. Sgt. Mike Morris, a 437th Airlift Wing loadmaster, flew on the final delivery. His father, retired Chief Master Sgt. Bob Morris, was the lead loadmaster on the first C-17 delivered to what was then Charleston Air Force Base, the Air Force said.

The delivery of P-222 on May 30 brought the number of C-17s assigned to Joint Base Charleston to 52, according to Air Mobility Command.

“While this may be the last U.S. Air Force C-17 delivery, this bird has many more flights in its future,” Jackson said.