I have long been a fan of tri-jets. Especially the DC-10. I also like the L 10 11 and the 727. Are any still in service where I could buy a ticket and fly on one of these birds. I think ATAs DC10 will be charter only, so that is out. Any others?

Middle East, Asia and any dodgy countries  

Biman Bangladesh still flies DC-10's, but I think you'd have to like risks to do that. I haven't heard good things about Biman's maintenance practices.

Also I believe the latest incarnation of "Pan Am" operates 727's along the East Coast of the US, so that may be worth looking into.

Once again: KLM and Finnair operate a fleet of MD-11's. Please search existing threads.  

At least Finnair operates them into New York so it is easy to book a flight from there.

Depending on where you fly from... Champion flys chartered 722's from DFW to Mexico destinations and LAS. I think from other locations as well. Most can be booked from www.worryfreevacations.com

DISCLAIMER: Not an advertisement... Just from what I've seen

What about the MD-11? There are several airlines flying these trijet aircraft, won't you fly them? If not the MD-11, then why not?

SparkingWave ~~~

Air Namibia flies (or did fly until recently) a MD-11. Iran Air still flies the 727, they cycle thru Dubai (DXB) fairly often. Also, don't forget World Airways - they fly the MD-11 and DC-10 - mostly a charter outfit but if you're affiliated with the U.S. military there's always the chance you could get a ride on one of the rotater flights from the U.S. to Europe and points farther eastward.

[Edited 2007-06-04 11:34:59]

Screw American 3 holers. Go Europe and hitch a ride on Aeroflot.

Libyan Arab regularly flies the 737 to TUN.

UTA   

Libyan Arab regularly flies the 727 to TUN.

UTA   

Quoting 777law (Reply 2):
I haven't heard good things about Biman's maintenance practices.
I haven't heard Biman has maintenance practices.  

Which airlines still fly the L1011, Tu 154, Yak 40 and Yak 42 on scheduled services?

[Edited 2007-06-04 13:41:19]

Also, JJ operates MD-11s..

Quoting Pilotdude09 (Reply 1): Middle East, Asia and any dodgy countries

Not sure whether Portugal qualifies as a dodgy country, but you can see them there.

Quoting Cchan (Reply 10): Which airlines still fly the L1011

In Portugal: Luzair, EuroAtlantic and Yes/White all fly the L1011

In northern Canada I believe First Air still has a 727 or two...


CanadianNorth

I saw a couple World Airways MD-11s when I was in ATL last week. It's good to see that at least they're still alive and kicking around the world.

There are tonnes of TU154, TU134, YAK40 & YAK42 in service around russia and former soviet countries.

Quoting EI321 (Reply 16):

The TU-134 is not a tri-jet.

Quoting 777law (Reply 2): Biman Bangladesh still flies DC-10's

Quoting Ravel (Reply 3): Once again: KLM and Finnair operate a fleet of MD-11's.

At the moment, only BG still fly regular pax flights with DC-10s, and for the MD-11, unless a last minute change, only AY, KL and JJ still use it for regular services as RG has just done it's last ever (??) MD-11 flight.

Quoting Flynavy (Reply 6): Air Namibia flies (or did fly until recently) a MD-11.

What is recently for you ? SW retired the last of two MD-11s last September.

Quoting AA787823 (Thread starter):

Tame is flying still 727 look at my profile to see a pic of one  

Konstantin

Quoting OceansWorld (Reply 18): RG has just done it's last ever (??) MD-11 flight.

Last FRA-GRU-GIG (RG 8741) is scheduled for June 8th. However, I have heard that PP-VTI is staying with RG until June 23rd, so it might not be be the last flight.

Quoting Fokkerf28 (Reply 17): Quoting EI321 (Reply 16): The TU-134 is not a tri-jet.

correct, my bad.

Quoting BuyantUkhaa (Reply 12): Not sure whether Portugal qualifies as a dodgy country, but you can see them there.

or the Netherlands, with some 20 MD11s registered here to 2 airlines we must be extremely dodgy in his book  

Thai Sky Airlines operates an L-1011, with another two in storage.

Cheers
Mats

You would expect some more 727 operators in Africa, but I can only think of:

Chanchangi Airlines (Nigeria)
Hewa Bora Airlines (RDC)

Quoting AA787823 (Thread starter): I think ATAs DC10 will be charter only, so that is out

Charters are still revenue service. I think you wanted to know about scheduled service.

Quoting CanadianNorth (Reply 13): In northern Canada I believe First Air still has a 727 or two...

Just one for passenger service at this point. C-GXFA should be retired soon along with its cargo counterpart C-FUFA.


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Photo © Simon T.


[Edited 2007-06-04 20:44:51]

Saw a Champion Air 727 taxiing between Terminals A and B at DEN last Friday evening.

Try going down to South America... well, LAB is not flying anymore... maybe still some charter flights, but AeroSur still flies the 727-200... been on an old Mexicana one in February from VVI to CBB (interior still all-Mexicana)

Cheers,

Stefan

Quoting CanadianNorth (Reply 13): In northern Canada I believe First Air still has a 727 or two...

The 727 C-GXFA, is pretty much used on ad-hoc passenger charters and on the YOW-YFB and YUL-YFB/YVP runs when the usual 732s are in for maintenance or when they go mechanical.

Quoting YZFOO7F (Reply 26): Just one for passenger service at this point. C-GXFA should be retired soon along with its cargo counterpart C-FUFA.

YZFOO7F, how soon? Is the long-talked about 752 or 762 rumour about to happen? Until 7F finds a suitable 722 replacement, they can't be leaving the fleet.

Quoting BuyantUkhaa (Reply 12): In Portugal: Luzair, EuroAtlantic and Yes/White all fly the L1011

These are all charter airlines, so one can't really book a seat on them. White replaced the L1011 with A310?

Quoting Doona (Reply 23): Thai Sky Airlines operates an L-1011, with another two in storage.

All 3 were grounded due to lack of spare parts, and were removed from the Thai aircraft registar. They are still parked at old Bangkok airport the last I've heard.

KML still runs MD-11's AMS-YVR

Quoting Yow (Reply 29): YZFOO7F, how soon? Is the long-talked about 752 or 762 rumour about to happen? Until 7F finds a suitable 722 replacement, they can't be leaving the fleet.

The latest I've heard is that they plan to go with a 762, but I've yet to see anything concrete. With the 2nd Herc online now, it seems like 7F is sitting tight for a bit. I wouldn't be suprised to see the 727s gone within the next two years though, as they are reaching their max cycles.

KLM still runs a daily service from AMS to DAR on an MD-11. My wife was on it no longer than three months ago.

Do something really exotic and fly to Pyongyang on an Air Koryo Tu-154!

Omni Air International is still flying DC10's and I think occasionally fly non-military charters/flights.

SyrianAir/Syrian Arab Airways still operates the B722 - they are going to have them for a while too I am told. They also operate the Yak40, although they only have a handful of their 20 or so in service, most seem to act as donors for parts. Iraqi Airways operates the B722, can be seen at many airports in the Middle East. Yemenia still have a few B722s, saw one earlier this year at Aleppo, and Iran Air/Iran Aseman Airlines has a lot, as well as internal flights there are several rotations to Dubai, Ariana Afghan Airlines still operate them too, but I'm not 100% sure on that. There's one Indonesian (I think) airline which operates quite a few 722's, but I forget the name now, I think their planes are in some form of pink livery.

The Yak42 is in service with many airlines in Russia, but also Cubana around the Caribbean and AeroSvit in the Ukraine that I know of, there are probably others in the former soviet block countries. The Yak 40's crop up everywhere, I believe there are several in the Caribbean operating services from Cuba, some possible in Central America and a handful in the Far East too.

Your chances of getting on a DC10 are now limited to access to freighter flights or jumping on Biman, so take your chances on that! The L1011 was being flown by Hewa Bora airlines into Brussels once a week, I think that is now operated by a 767 - at least that was the plan, but if so then the Tristar was going to be put on the Dubai route. There is a newly refurbished L1011 sat at AMS, it should have gone already, where to I'm not sure, but after it's just been brought back from the brink and been given costly repairs I can't see it going to the knackers just yet. There are also several based in DAM and AMM, but these only operate ad hoc charters, some of them look as if they haven't been moved for years.

Aside of those, the MD-11 and Tu154 are very common, others have covered the MD, but you'll find the Tu154 operating just about every other flight in Russia. Some operate in Iran under Caspian Airlines for one, and there may be one flying for Syrian. Basically if you really want to get on these you'll have to visit Russia and the Middle East, the latter could prove very problematic if you are American - but you can at least try to get a Visa for Iran and Syria.


Dan 

Ship yourself as freight and come fly the 727, MD-10 or MD11 with us at FedEx!  

Quoting Transair737 (Reply 31): KML still runs MD-11's AMS-YVR

Does anyone know why KL stopped sending MD-11s to JFK? They were regulars in New York a couple of years ago.

Leo.

Quoting YZFOO7F (Reply 26): Just one for passenger service at this point. C-GXFA should be retired soon along with its cargo counterpart C-FUFA.

Oh so no more 722 at YVO? Sad  

I saw C-FUFA a couple time there, impressive ! (When you're in a Dash-8...)
C-FFAL (Raglan 732Adv) sounds almost quiet compared to her hehe  

Until their recent shut down, LAB was flying 727s. It looks like they should begin flying again. Also, I have noticed a CAT 727 landing frequently in Tucson.

Quoting Dalavia (Reply 34): Do something really exotic and fly to Pyongyang on an Air Koryo Tu-154!

If you're lucky you can also sometimes find a Tu-154 from Vladivostok to ICN on Vladivostok Air. . .

Great idea for a thread AA787823, I'm right there with you on this one. Being from the US, our options are severely limited.

It seems the best bet requiring minimal hassle is the AY MD-11 to HEL, which should still be available for two more years. I noticed last winter the fare from ORD via JFK was as low as $650 roundtrip. I will definitely be doing this on a long weekend in the next year or two.

I wish I could turn back the clock six years and get on a couple 727's and L-1011's one last time. These, especially the latter, would require more effort and a deeper wallet.

AFAIK CE in South Africa use a 727 on the JNB - Livingstone (Zambia) route. I'm not sure if the aircraft is used internally as well. Maybe someone with better connections can canfirm?

Quoting C010T3 (Reply 20): Quoting OceansWorld (Reply 18): RG has just done it's last ever (??) MD-11 flight. Last FRA-GRU-GIG (RG 8741) is scheduled for June 8th. However, I have heard that PP-VTI is staying with RG until June 23rd, so it might not be be the last flight.

I just saw a Varig MD11 fly into LHR last Saturday... landed around 5.30pm.

Quoting CirrusDriver (Reply 37): Ship yourself as freight and come fly the 727, MD-10 or MD11 with us at FedEx!

I have a huge crate you can use. It was used to ship a robot on FedEx. It would be perfect....   

Finnair flies the MD-11 to India I think, many has bought really inexpensive tickets to India with Finnair.

Quoting MrFord (Reply 39): Oh so no more 722 at YVO? Sad

Yeah those old 722s are quite loud. It will be sad to see them go, I really like the old timers my self.

Quoting YZFOO7F (Reply 32): The latest I've heard is that they plan to go with a 762, but I've yet to see anything concrete

It would be interesting to see them operating a 762 at YFB but isn't that a little too big for them. Can YRT at 6000ft even handle a 762? Wouldn't they be in a better position if they went with a 737ng maybe the 737c

Quoting Yfbflyer (Reply 48): Can YRT at 6000ft even handle a 762? Wouldn't they be in a better position if they went with a 737ng maybe the 737c

YRT rarely ever sees the 722. The 762's main purpose would be to replace to 722F on the food-mail run. The YVP food-mail stop would be the main issue. As for the 722C's replacement, a 762, is quite a bit bigger for the ad-hoc charter work.