The world’s last operating passenger DC 10-30 aircraft, which Biman Bangladesh Airlines had christened the New Era, made its farewell flight on Thursday for Birmingham in United Kingdom after serving 25 years in the fleet of the national flag carrier, marking the history of aviation industry. The 314-seater New Era departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for Birmingham at 9:00am with 29 foreign and local aviation lovers.
But the occasion was a little bit different for Captain MA Qaiyum, who had been flying New Era for last 25 years.
He was visibly emotional on the cockpit and told New Age that he was proud to be pilot of one of the finest aircraft, which, he claimed, once made the airlines profitable.
Captain Qaiyum said this would be the last operating passenger DC-10 but some DC-10 aircrafts would still be used for cargo transportation and military purpose.
A large number of Biman officials gathered near the VVIP terminal to say good bye to the aircraft, which had made 22,234 trips carrying thousands of passengers to different destinations across the world.
The Indian prime minister, Monmohan Singh, when he was finance minister, had flown in the aircraft while the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, among others, also travelled in the aircraft.
A Singapore-based engineer, Jonathan Veel, travelled to Dhaka on Wednesday night just to fly with the passengers of DC 10.
‘It’s amazing… I want to be the part of history,’ said Jonathan on board. Many others from UK and United States also travelled to Dhaka to fly with New Era to be the part of history.
From passengers, the national flag carrier will earn only Tk 20 lakh on New Era’s last sortie.
When asked about the loss on this farewell trip, the Biman chief executive officer Kevin John Steele said the loss on the Dhaka-Birmingham-Dhaka sector would be about one crore.
According to the schedule, the three-engine wide-bodied jet airliner will do a couple of one-hour scenic tours at the weekends of February 22, 23 and 24 from Birmingham airport.
‘However,’ Kevin, also the Biman managing director, told New Age, ‘We’ll make a profit of about Tk 40-50 lakh on the scenic flights at Birmingham, and perhaps Tk 20 lakh profit on the merchandise we will sell in Birmingham.’
Kevin said, ‘We are getting a fantastic worldwide press coverage, and we could not buy that press and marketing coverage for Tk 30 crore.’
The Biman earlier planned to donate the 25-year-old aircraft to the Museum of Flight in Seattle in the United States but it did not finally happen for shortage of space at the museum.
Instead, the authorities have invited proposals to buy the last DC-10-30 aircraft any time after February 25 either from Dhaka or the United Kingdom or from any other place in an ‘as it is, where it is’ condition. The aircraft will only remain airworthy until the end of May.
As of the day, the authorities were yet to confirm whether it would return home or to be reserved in any museum in western country.
‘We want to donate the craft to any museum in foreign country for the exposure of the Biman,’ said Rashed Khan
Menon, the civil aviation and tourism minister.
Biman procured three DC 10-30 aircraft in 1983 and a new DC-10-30 was bought from Mcdonnell Douglas in 1989.
As of 2013, Biman had only two DC-10s flying — one, 35 years old, grounded in November 10, 2013 for scrapping locally.
With Captain Qaiyum, 24 other Biman officials including cabin crew and who had once served in the New Era, also flew to Birmingham.
Chief purser Tanvir Akhter Shohana, who served the aircraft for last 20 years, was among others on board. She was seen sobbing into her handkerchief, saying, ‘I am feeling like my daughter is leaving my house after her marriage.’
-With New Age input
