Jumbo AP-BFW makes last journey, to a scrap-dealer. PHOTO: FILE
Seven million five hundred thousand, eight, nine, nine million nine hundred and fifty thousand ... and sold. The body of a Boeing 747-300 aircraft was auctioned for Rs9.95 million on Wednesday at the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) head office, bringing to end the journey of one of few jumbos in the country.
The aircraft with the registration number AP-BFW was inducted into the PIA fleet on June 14, 1999, and has been sold sans engine, instrumental panel, avionics, landing gear and seats.
The auction was attended by 13 scrap dealers but the competition remained between two parties, who vied for the jumbo aircraft’s body in a close bidding contest.
Overseen by PIA’s General Manager Procurement and Logistics S Mujibur Rehman, a reserve price of Rs7.5 million was fixed by the airline.
Soon after auctioneer started the bidding, the price quickly rose to Rs9.3 million. But from there on it was slow build-up as the two main contestants kept on adding just Rs50,000 in tit-for-tat bids.
“Take it to a carore (Rs10 million), take it to a carore,” the auctioneer insisted but bidders stopped Rs50,000 short of the respectable eight digit figure.
The successful bidder has a little over a month to take away the body, which includes the fuselage, wings and tail, from the airport hangar. The body will be cut and transported piece by piece, on trucks to the scrap dealer’s workshop.
It was a humbling sight for PIA officials to see dealers in shalwar kameez and slippers bidding for something that cost millions of dollars, has transported hundreds of thousands of passengers, generated billions in revenue, and put PIA in an exclusive club.
However, nothing goes to waste when it comes to an aircraft. The cannibalisation, as officials call the process of stripping down all the components including the water tanks, helps PIA in saving cost.
In the upcoming Hajj operation, PIA will use two other B-747s, which have been fitted with more seats to carry maximum passengers. Since Boeing has stopped making seats for this particular make of the aircraft, they had to be salvaged from the auctioned plane.
“The normal seating capacity in a 747 is 420, but the Hajj flights will take around 465 passengers,” said the official. “Suppliers would have ripped us off badly if we had bought the seats from open market.”
Similarly the landing gear, engines and electronic components will be used whenever needed, helping the airline to save money.
“Now the interesting part starts. It’s not as massive an operation like ship breaking but cutting a plane’s body needs attention and expertise,” said a PIA official who was also part of the auction.
The plane was produced by Boeing in the early 90s and remained in service with Cathay Pacific before PIA bought the.
The auctioned body weighs 72,500 kilogrammes, taking the price per kilogramme of the body to R131.72. “The body is made up of a mix of metals that includes aluminium, steel and some oxides. It is strong material,” the PIA official said.
The name of the successful bidder has been deliberately held back because of extortion and ransom threats faced by traders in Karachi.
“Parts of the fuselage will be melted and converted into metallic sheets which are used to make fans mainly for industrial purposes like turbines,” said the official who was briefed by scrap dealers.
For thousands of aviation enthusiasts, employees and passengers, the jumbos hold significant value - an attachment other machines seldom witness.
There are hundreds of pictures of the AP-BFW available on internet with a lively theme based off ‘Lahore: Garden of the Mughals’, which was introduced by former PIA Managing Director Tariq Kirmani as part of a rebranding campaign.
President Pakistan Airline Pilots’ Association (Palpa) Sohail Baluch says aviators tend to fall in love with planes around the world and remember it long after it has been decommissioned.
“It’s like being stuck in a cubicle for 11-12 hours. You begin to understand the plane and you know the engines and other systems. It’s an automatic attachment,” said the official.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2013.
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Correction: An earlier version of this article carried an incorrect picture. The correction has been made.
COMMENTS (31)
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A PRINTER'S DEVIL ??? The news is about the grand Boeing 747 which has a very distinct hump at the forward section of the fuselage in which the cockpit is housed. But the picture shown with the news item in the print edition is that of a Boeing 777 inside a hangar. What a howler !!!
She may indeed be still a beautiful sight and cause hearts to flutter but she is now too old and her engines gulp fuel. Moreover, who flies 3- person cockpits anymore?
@tamim: You can still buy it from the present owner who bought it in auction. Then increase this money x 30. Give that extra money to PIA. No body is stopping you. Please go ahead and take the first step. I hope you will keep your word.
sold way below scrap value ;
i would have paid 10 million ; easily could have multiplied x 30 times the money
if only ; we had brains running the country ; not lords.
PIA's problems will end only when it is privatised........the sooner the better.
@shahid and @nadir
I feel like pulling my hair out. If you people have no knowledge on something why do you share fake info to sound knowledgable.
Nadir, the picture above is infact that of 747, though not necessarily the one mentioned in the story.
Shahid, Pia Does NOT have any -400 models in service and they never ever did. Neither do they plan to get one.
Please only share info which you really know about!!!
@Nadir: Hello, good morning, wakey wakey; It is time to know that this aircraft having marker AP-BFW which was sold as scrap by PIA is the Boeing 747-300 (dash300 but actually dash367), bearing manufacturer serial number 23221; PIA has also the dash (-) 400 models which are the models after the 367s were made; By the way, dash 400s will have enhanced seating capacity using seats from the dash367; Time temperature changes altitude pressure variations has long lasting effects on metallurgy of the fuselage and it is best to retire before tragedy occurs due to metal fatigue;
Yes, well done guys ... I point out factual mistakes in your stories and you refuse to publish my comments .. how many other news stories do you gloss over like this on daily basis? shameful! (that's OK to say now ... SC says so)
@Nadir: so what do think it is...Thunderbolt...So call experts of the aviation industry
The aircraft shown in the photo above is one of PIA's 2 B747-200 Combi AP-BAK or AP-BAT, not a B747-300. Also AP-BFW was manufactured in the mid-1980's and not early 90's as stated. Yes the 747 is an iconic aircraft and it is sad to see PIA not preserve one of these icons of commercial aviation by donating one of them to the PAF Museum. A decommissioned aircraft while still airworthy can be issued a one time operating license to fly from JIAP to PAF Base Faisal where it can be parked and put on display for the public to see and educate themselves on the marvel of 20th century aviation. Many people in Pakistan have never seen a plane up close, let alone fly on one and a 747 donated to a Museum would be educational and entertaining for the 'grounded' members of the public. I had hoped that PIA's first Boeing acquired 747-200 AP-BAK would have been preserved in this manner but sadly it also had an appointment with the scrappers torch. We in Pakistan show such scant regard in preserving history.
@abdussamad:
Well said !!!
Even TCS has one 747 Boeing Aircraft it uses for mail transportation from LHR-KHI So, Its not that much of a big deal.
Such a majestic looking gigantic flying machine. Alas, this beauty would be no more there like the supersonic Concorde. New models don't even come close to its looks, rather they are quite ugly by comparison. Fortunately, I had the opportunity of traveling in one of these particular planes in 1998 when they were still with Cathay Pacific on a return trip from Manchester to Frankfurt. Ah! this was such a huge plane one could easily do a 100 meter sprint on its aisles. Good bye my dear.
Love it
I think PIA needs a good manager rather than new planes and all other stuff as PIA was one of the best airline in 1960's . and old planes should also be vanished from PIA in order to enhance the performance of PIA.
PIA AT ITs BEST,..........scrapping, dissembling and dismantling. This is how it is operating since last decade or so.
Paying less than $100,000 for 75 tons of high quality alloy albeit a mix of metals, sounds actually a very good deal. What is more intriguing is that internationally a scrap B747 can be sold for around $2 million. Just the landing gear could be worth around half a million dollars.
You do the math. No wonder PIA is in such a critical state.
i could build my house in this plane.
I think the plane will back in service either by Aeroflot or Shaheen or Indus Air soon.
@abdussamad:
ET clearly meant to refer to the labor class. As you may know, corporate environment in Pakistan does not allow Shalwar Kameez for executives.
"It was a humbling sight for PIA officials to see dealers in shalwar kameez and slippers"
So they are embarrassed by their own country's national dress. No wonder PIA is in trouble.
"“Take it to a carore (Rs10 million), take it to a carore,” the auctioneer insisted but bidders stopped Rs50,000 short of the respectable eight digit figure."
This particular Shalwar kameez wearing male would like to point out that the correct spelling for the South Asian word for 10 million is crore not carore.
ET should opologize about this mistake.
^ looks like they fixed it now
Knowing what I know about the PIA, its safe to assume most of the money raised will go towards perks and bloated salaries of the army of management staff and bureaucrats who pretend to run the PIA everyday.
Yes great reporting ET. The picture belongs to a Boeing 777, not the 747 jumbo the article is about!!
Least you guys could do was put up a picture of an actual 747 instead of a 777 !!
Umm... Isn't that a 777?
ET,
Why do you have a picture of a Boeing 777 undergoing maintenance when you are talking about a Boeing 747-300?
The picture isnt of a 747 though.
that's AP-BGZ in the picture, a Boeing 777-240LR not a 747 ... Also, BFW got into service with Cathay in 1985 (MSN 23221), not early 90's.