South East Asian Airlines To Launch Dornier 24ATT
Service
South East Asian
Airlines (SEAIR), a German-backed commuter airline company based in
the Philippines, has announced that it is putting back into service
one of the world's most remarkable and historic flying boats, the
Dornier 24ATT.
SEAIR, which has been in operation in the Philippines for ten
years serving some of the archipelago's top destinations, will use
the luxury aircraft to service five-star resorts, offering
discerning passengers the opportunity to fly and arrive in style,
without hanging around at airports or ferry terminals.
SEAIR chairman and founder Iren Dornier, grandson of German
aircraft pioneer Claudius Dornier, removed the Dornier 24ATT from
the Deutsch museum in Germany and brought it to the Philippines in
2003, shipping it half way around the world.
There were about 200 DO24s built in the 30s and 40s. This
particular aircraft is a one-of-a- kind modification of the
original model. It uses more powerful turbine engines, new
technology wings, and is amphibian. It is the only Dornier seaplane
left in commercial operation and will be the only amphibian in the
Philippines used for commercial operation.
There will be two stages to the aircraft's rehabilitation. SEAIR
chairman Iren Dornier first plans to pilot the aircraft himself on
a world tour, retracing the route taken in 1929 by the DO-X, a
Dornier aircraft- the largest flying boat in its day -- before
flying it back to the Philippines to begin regular service.
In the Philippines the aircraft will be used only for luxury air
travel to and from selected resorts and for transporting VIP
clients from island to island. "This aircraft will offer an
innovative service, the first of its kind in Asia," said Iren
Dornier. "Its launch is the culmination of two years of hard
work."
The DO 24ATT, which has five crew and seating for 10 VIP
passengers -- although it could take in a maximum of 19
passengers-- is able to take off and land even in extremely rough
seas. It has one love seat bubble and an observatory seat in the
rear glass dome.
In the 30s and 40s the
Dornier 24 amphibians were used for sea rescue service and as
transport flying boats in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, in the
English Channel, over the Atlantic Ocean, in the entire
Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. More than 11,000 people
were saved at sea during the war. According to Iren Dornier,
there are other vintage seaplanes in the world but none can match
the DO 24ATT's performance.
"This is a remarkable amphibian with new technology and a
reputation for safety which other amphibians don't have. We will
provide a customized service to VIP clients. In 1929, a similar
aircraft, the Dornier DO-X, the largest flying boat in the world at
that time, had a telephone on board and passengers smoked Havana
cigars on board. This is the same luxurious feel the aircraft will
have when it takes to the skies once again," Dornier said.
"The technical design of the DO24 represented an optimum in
flying boat design, and the successful operation under the most
difficult conditions made this ocean-going flying boat a piece of
aviation history," he added.
The resurrected aircraft will have leather seats, satellite
communications so passengers can continue to do business on board,
and a camera that will show on a screen inside the cabin either the
landscape beneath the aircraft or the marine life when it lands on
water.