Dear Customer,
There has been a lot of interest lately from press, aviation enthusiasts and the general public, on what will be happening with Biman’s last DC10s, which will be phased out in the coming months with the arrival of new aircraft. These are the last flying passenger DC10-30 aircraft in the whole world. So I thought I would take this opportunity to brief you with the latest news, which will be updated when further firm news becomes available.
Biman currently has 2 DC10-30s flying. As their fuel consumption is higher than other aircraft in our fleet, they are used sparingly. One of those DC10s will come to the end of its economic life on 10th November 2013 (today), and will be scrapped locally. The last DC10 will continue normal flying until 7th December 2013, the start of the revised schedule for the fog period here in Dhaka. Thereafter, it will only be used as a standby aircraft, in case another aircraft in our fleet become unserviceable for any reason. We will not be scheduling it on any route though.
This last DC10 will continue as a standby aircraft until sometime in February 2014. The exact date is not known yet, as it is being coordinated with the arrival of our brand new B777-300ER aircraft from Boeing. We expect to know the exact date in early January 2014.
The last DC10 is being donated to a museum in the USA, a fitting end for an aircraft that has served Biman loyally and well over many year. Accordingly, we will then offer for sale, as a last opportunity to travel on a passenger DC10, anywhere in the world:
a. Seats on a last flight Dhaka to Birmingham (UK). Note this will need a technical stop
somewhere.
b. 2 (or more if demand requires it) one hour ‘scenic tours’ to/from Birmingham
c. We are unsure if the US authorities will give us traffic rights on the Birmingham to USA
sector. If they do, this will also be offered for sale.
d. We are also discussing with the UK POost Office, about the carriage of ‘Last day Covers’
on the last sector Birmingham-USA, for sale at a later date.
Tickets will only be sold via our website, hopefully from early January, so do not buy tickets elsewhere, we want these tickets to go to genuine aviation enthusiasts. If there is a demand for more ‘scenic tour’ flights at Birmingham, we can consider these too.
We hope you will join with us in celebrating the farewell of a loyal, beautiful aircraft, but also to recognize that the time has now come for Biman to equip itself with the very latest in new aircraft and technology.
Kevin Steele
MD & CEO
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