The Biman Bangladesh Airlines authorities have finally decided to sell two DC-10 aircraft rather than scrapping them locally considering it as the better alternative, officials said.
The Biman board of directors in a recent meeting took the decision and an international tender has already been floated seeking suitable bidders.
An official of the national flag carrier told the FE the Biman board took the decision after a thorough discussion as selling will be better than scrapping the two aircraft locally.
"Our first plan of sending one DC-10 aircraft to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, USA, fell through as the museum declined to take it saying that they have no room to accommodate the aircraft. Then, we planned to scrap both the aircraft. Finally, we reached a decision on selling the two aircraft," he said.
The last DC-10 was brought back to Dhaka on February 26 after its scenic flights in the UK.
He said the Biman board thought as the country has a small market of aircraft parts, they will get only a few customers here for the scrapped parts of the DC-10s.
"The Biman board opined that as our air-market is not large, many of the parts of the scrapped aircraft would remain unsold," he said.
The DC-10 is the last passenger aircraft of its kind. It is a three-engine wide-body jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, which did not come up with any aircraft after 1988.
No other airline in the world uses DC-10 now, sources said. However, some DC-10 aircraft fly in some parts of the world as freighters.
The two DC-10-30s were procured in the early 1980s during General HM Ershad's administration just years after their manufacturer folded up. Two more 380-seater DC-10s were bought through lease-to-purchase deals by the company in 1990s as part of Biman's expansion drive in the Middle East, Europe and the South East Asia.
According to the Biman's maintenance department, the aircraft frequently suffered different technical faults, disrupting schedule by delaying or halting flights. Due to their old age, they proved to be gas-guzzling, causing havoc to Biman's financial health during the years of high oil price.
Fuel accounts for some 60 per cent of Biman's budget, but in case of DC-10s, fuel eats up 70 per cent of the cost, officials said. Considering the maintenance and fuel costs, Biman authorities took the decision of phase out the DC-10s.
Managing Director (MD) of Biman Kevin Steele told the FE as per their earlier plan, the last DC-10 had been scheduled to be sent to the Boeing aviation museum, but the company refused to take it since there was no space in the museum.
As per the international tender, the aspirant bidders would be able to apply before April 23, 2014, and they may also visit the aircraft with engine and auxiliary power unit (APU) mentioned in the schedule on April 21, 2014, sources added.
