The world’s last operating passenger DC 10-30 aircraft that Biman Bangladesh Airlines owns will make its farewell flight for Birmingham today, spending nearly Tk five crore for the week-long round trip. The officials said the last flight of the 314-seater DC 10 will depart Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for Birmingham at 8:30am today along with 23 passengers and 22 others including pilots, aircrew and officials.
From passengers, the national flag carrier will earn only Tk 20 lakh.
At least Tk 2.64 crore would be spent for fuel of the trip while the rest would be spent for the staying and miscellaneous, the officials estimated.
The authorities, however, claimed they were not worried about the costs as it would give great exposure of the carrier.
Biman’s managing director Kevin John Steele told reporters that world media would cover the event, which would be a publicity for the carrier.
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 is currently operating scheduled passenger flights but it will only remain airworthy until the end of May.
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 2013 for scrapping locally.
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 and will return to Dhaka by February 28.
-With New Age input
