Workhorse Plane Introduced in 1972
Talk about the end of an era.... Northwest is taking its DC-10s
out of scheduled passenger service, after more than 30 years. The
final flight was scheduled to leave Honolulu Sunday, and arrive in
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN early Monday morning.
Northwest's inaugural DC-10 flight in 1972 went from the Twin
Cities to Milwaukee, and on to Tampa, FL.
Tim Rainey, a Northwest senior vice president who oversees
flight operations, called the DC-10 the carrier's "utility
infielder."
"It could do just about any mission that you asked it to do,"
Rainey said. "We had that airplane flying in Asia as far as
Singapore and had it in the Atlantic all the way down to Bombay,
India."
Economics and advancing technology have grounded the DC-10,
however. Northwest decided to accelerate the retirement of the
three-engine DC-10, which requires a three-pilot crew, in large
part because the new twin-engine Airbus A330 saves up to 30 percent
on fuel costs and requires only two pilots.
Northwest's DC-10 fleet peaked in 2001 at 45 airplanes. The last
of the DC-10-40s, which seated 236 people, was removed in late
2002, and in recent months Northwest operated a dozen of the
273-passenger DC-10-30s, including five of the last six built by
McDonnell Douglas.
During the past few months, the airline's DC-10s have been
flying only between the Twin Cities and Honolulu. Rainey said the
Northwest DC-10s will be used by other carriers, primarily for
charter flights.
Airline expert Terry Trippler said consumers liked the 2-5-2
seating configuration on the DC-10, in which there were aisles on
both sides of a five-seat bank and two-seat sections next to
windows.
The DC-10 was a good plane for Northwest during the 1970s, '80s
and '90s, Trippler added, but Northwest needed to acquire modern
planes to compete for passengers on international flights who want
comfortable seats and entertainment systems that allow customers to
choose their own movies and music.
Marty Wahoske, corporate travel
manager for Tennant Corp., said consumer perceptions of the DC-10
changed over time. Tennant's European headquarters is in the
Netherlands, and Wahoske said many of his company's employees
preferred avoiding to fly on a DC-10 from the Twin Cities to
Amsterdam.
"Our preference of travel was on the A330," Wahoske said. "The
DC-10 was a tired airplane in terms of its comfort," with Tennant
travelers preferring the lie-flat seats and entertainment systems
on the modern A330s. Northwest phased out the last Amsterdam DC-10
flight in October.