Latest News

May 18th 2017;

A superb new MD11 book has just been released. The Story of the MD11 by Charles Kennedy and Guy Van Herbruggen.
Lots of interesting articles and history of each MD11 built and pictures iof each airframe too. Very well put together and presented.
Get your copy from the Airline Boutique by clicking on the link below;

The Airline Boutique online shop

June 16th;

The Royal Netherlands air force held an air show at Leeuwarden on 11th June and the lucky guests got to see Martinair MD11F PH-MCP doing a flypast. Here are some pictures taken by a friend of mine Gary Morris;

June 8th;

UPS MD11 N277UP suffered a nose hear collapse after a rejected take off at Seoul Inchon earlier today. The crew escaped without injury.
Pictures below on the Yonhap twitter news feed;

N277UP at Seoul

Almost 22 years of MD11 operations with Martinair will end this June when the last of thier MD11 freighters are phased out. The KLM/Air France group are consolidating cargo operations around the 747/777 in a bid to reduce costs and sadly the Mad Dag has had its day.
Martinair had the only MD11CF's built and some were, for number of years used on charter serives from Amsterdam to Canadan, Spain etc whilst being able to have the passenger seats removed anbd revert to a freighter when required. Laterly all necessary passenger operational equipment was removed and they became pure freighters. Amsterdam will be strange place without and MD11's there any more.

I was able to get pictures of PH-MCP/MCW at Miami inFebruary and PH-MCU at Amsterdam last week.

January 18th 2016;

Global Africa have added a splash of colour to an MD11 at last, hope Western Global follow suite soon;

Z-GAA Global Africa MD11 at Liege recently (with thanks to Andreas van den Berg)

N546JN Western Global MD11 at Fort Myers,FL in November 2015 (with thanks to Dan Freeman)

Didint realise i was so far behind so as i have a day off work today i thought its time to get some updating done;
Firstly, quite a few registartion changes since last time;

48411/452 N411SN Western Global (ex N382WA)
48412/454 N412SN Western Global (ex N383WA)
48410/495 Z-GAA Global Africa (ex Z-BVT)
48512/529 N512JN Western Global (ex OH-LGC)
48513/563 N513SN Western Global (ex OH-LGD)
48581/565 N581JN for Western Global (ex D-ALCR)
48630/567 N630SN for Western Global (ex D-ALCS)
48546/589 N546JN Western Global (ex OH-NGB)
48758/615 N546BC Boeing Co (ex ET-AML)
48780/624 N545BC Boeing Co (ex ET-AND)

Martinair's MD11F fleet is now down to 3 operational aircrfat after PH-MCR/MCY were both ferried to the Mohave desert late 2015.
Just PH-MCP/U/W are left in service, with PH-MCS stored at Amsterdam for now.  

PH-MCR leaving Amsterdam for the final time bound for Mohave 06/09/15 (with thanks to Rego S.Meijer)

Lufthansa Cargo have placed D-ALCG into store at Frankfurt with D-ALCL expected to follow suite shortly, both are expected to go to Victorville.

D-ALCM about to land in Vancouver in November 2015 (with thanks to Alan Wilcon)

Some MD11 pictures taken at Victorville in October 2015 (with thanks to Dean )

August 2nd;

Both former Ethiopian Airlines MD11F's have now been ferried from Addis Ababa to Victorville for part out and scrap. ET-AML is pictured landing at Dublin for a tec stop on 1st August on her ferry flight. ET-AND flew to the USA 2 weeks earlier.  (thanks to Niall Grant for the picture)

May 19th 2015;

Ethiopian Airlines have reportedly decided to end MD11 operations aealry and both their MD11's are currently parked at Addis Ababa waiting transfer to the USA. The carrier now has 5 B777 freighters.

EVA Air finnished MD11 operations at the end of March 2015 ending 21 years of service with the carrier. EVA opertaed 12 MD11's, 3 passenger and 9 freighter examples over the 21 years. The 3 PAX MD11's were converted to freighters in the ealry 2000's 

Martinair have retired their first 2 MD11's at the end of March this year. PH-MCR and MCS are currently at Amsterdam awaitng disposal. The remainder of the fleet will be gone by end of 2016. Amsterdam Schipol airport will be a strange place without the red and blue MD11's.

The 3 ex Aeroflot MD11's stored at Victorville now have US registrations applied;

N380BC (VP-BDP)
N382BC (VP-BDR)
N383BS (VP-BDQ)

Former China Cargo MD11F N216SC cn 48544/580 which is currently art Mohave has hopefully found a new home with Western Global Airlines with registration N544KD reserved.

Nordic Global Airlines are rumoured to be ceasing operations but as of this moment are stil flying. With the loss of cargo work for Finnair margins maybe too tight. Hopefully they can survive. 

Centurion Air Cargo reportedly want to move to an all 747 fleet.

January 11th 2015;

Florence has left the building.

PH-KCD left Amsterdam for the final time today, being ferried to Mohave for part out and scrap. KL9865 touched down on Seattle first and will night stop before carrying on to the California desert tomorrow. Its a pity she couldn't go to the Museum of Flight instead of being cut up for spare parts. 21 years of MD-11 operations at KLM have now come to an end. She was giving a fitting send from Schipol airport this morning.
The pictures is one i took on 11th November.

January 7th 2015;

A belated Happy New Year to all MD-11 fans out there. Some news from the MD11 world over the past few weeks to update;

There are some nice die cast models out there now of the last 3 KLM MD-11's. Gemini realeased a KLM MD11 farewell model last year of PH-KCB. That is the centre box in the picture. Phoenix models have realesed 2 recently, one ofPH-KCE and the 95 yeras sticker and one of PH-KCD with the Douglas Aviation history decals and types. All around £25 GBP and available on line. I got the Phoenix models from Aviation Retail Direct (ARD) in the UK.  

Former World MD11 N380WA cn 48807 is now being scrapped at Ostend,Belgium.

Another ex World MD11 N382WA cn 48411 is for Western Global Airlines.

Fedex MD11 N644FE cn 48444 is now stored at Victorville.

2 Western Global MD11's N543JN and N415JN are believed to be stored at Lakeland, FL.
Has anybody been there lately abd seen them??

I am not quite sure whats qoing on with AV Cargo but MD11's Z-BAM and Z-BPL have been reregistered Z-GAB and Z-GAC and are operated by Global Africa Cargo. They are all white with small Global Africa Cargo titles. AV Cargo's other MD11 Z-BVT is still at Jakarta though i don't know in what condition.  

Lufthansa MD11 D-ALCS was fown to Victorville this week for storge. All of the Alitalia MD11's with Lufthansa are now out of service.

One former MD11 of KLM remains at Amsterdam. PH-KCD 'Florence Nightingale' is due to leave Amsterdam on 11th January at 09;30 for Seattle. Then after a night stop, will carry on to Mohave on 12th January amrking the final chapter of MD11 operations at KLM. She will also be for part out and scrap.

December 9th;

PH-KCB made her final flight yesterday as she was ferried from Amsterdam to Crestview, FL via Atlanta KL 9865. She will join KCA at Crestview for part out and scrap. This just leaves PH-KCD left at Amsterdam now until early January when she wiill leave Amstersdam for the final time. (Thanks to Jan Hermink for the picture of 'KCB' taxiing out at Schipol. If you look carefully you can see a bit of KCD sticking out in the background too)

Finnair have decided to finnish operating dedicated freighter services at the end of 2014. the services are operated in conjunction and by Nordic Global of which Finniar has a 40% stake. I am not sure at this stage what this means for Nordic Global and its aircraft though. 

November 17th;

PH-KCE is making her final flight today. KL 9865 from Amsterdam to Mohave, with a tech stop in Los Angeles  en route. She left AMS just after 9 this morning, and will touch down in LAX around 1030 local time before continuing onto Mohave a while later. Hopefuly somebody will get to see Audrey in LAX or MHV, i'm sure the weather is better there than in Europe.

Here's a nice picture of the last MD11 off the line, Lufthansa Cargo D-ALCN seen on finals to Manchester recently taken by Dean Hammersley.

November 12th;

So now i'm back from Amsterdam after the farewell flights of KLM (and any) passenger MD11's. I will post some pictures shorlty on another page form the day. PH-KCD operated all 3 flights at 1030, 1300 and 1530.
I was on the last one at 1530 KL9899.

An interesting and temporary use of one of the MD11's has been advertised. KLM in association with airbnb are offering lucky competition wiinners a nights stay on one of the MD11's at Schipol airport. It has been converted with temporary accomadation by adding some heaters and dehumidifiers and the winners will recieve free KLM flights to Amsterdam and a voucher from airbnb.
It is for 28/29/30 November. Click the web link below for more info.

Airbnb/KLM MD11 rooms

November 10th;

November 11th tomorrow and the farewell KLM flights are almost here. I'm just printing off documents for my trip. I'm on the 1530 flight KL 9899. The weather looks ok so hope to get some pictures of the previous flight departing and arriving back.

PH-KCB has had some special decals applied marking KLM's long association with (McDonnell) Douglas. It will be parked on display along with DC-3 PH-PBA .

PH-KCD is expected to operate the 3 farewell flights.

November 7th

Former World MD11P N271WA was flown from Goodyear, AZ to Tupelo, MS yesterday (06/11), for part out and scrap. Sadly another one bites the dust.

PH-KCE is being readied for her final flight to the USA. She is going to Mojave (MHV) for part out and scrap, planned on 17th November as KL9865, estimating an 0930 departure from AMS. Due to customs formalities, the flight will be going via LAX for a tech stop then onto MHV.

November 4th;

Really nice you tube video done by KLM MD11 Capt P. Makkinje who was in charge of KL 692 and PH-KCB's last flight from Toronto on 25/10.
Click on the link to watch it at youtube.

Capt Peter Makkinje's clips from the last KL 692 flight

November 3rd;

PH-KCD is pictured at Amsterdam on 22/10 about to depart to Montreal on KL 671. This was her last rotation from AMS.(thanks to Paul Northover for the picture)
PH-KCB/KCD are being kep for the enthusuiats flights on 11/11. One will operate the flights, expected to be KCB, with the other on standby.
PH-KCE has been withdrawn from use and being readied for retirement, having decals etc removed. she will be the first of the last 3 to be ferried to the USA for part out and scrap, expected to be towards the end of November 14.

October 30th;

Gemini Jets have released a 1:400 scale die cast model of PH-KCB in a special box, commemorating KLM MD11 operations. i got mine on Amazon.

October 16th;

PH-KCE is pictured at Amsterdam recently with special 95th anniversary stickers. 2014 also marks 80 years of Douglas aircraft operations coming to an end with KLM too.(Photo courtesy of Paul Zethof)

PH-KCE has had special 95th anniversary stickers applied for its last few weeks of operation, hope to geta pciture of it over the next few days.

Saturday 25th will mark the final scheduled MD11 passenger services. I wlll be on KL672 from Montreal. Hopefuly meet some of my fellow mad dog fans on that flight, i know there are quite a few making the trip to Canada. Our party is sat 34A/B, 35A/B if anybody wnats to say hello. 

September 22nd;

PH-KCA left Amsterdamfor the final time today en route to the USA for part out and scrap. Flight KL 9865 is going to Crestview, FL (CEW) via a tech stop inAtlanta. Sad to see 'Amy Johnson' go, i had hoped she would survive till the end.

September 15th;

KLM are to offer 3 MD11 farewell/scenic flights on November 11th. They are expected to last an hour and cost 111 Euro. Bookings open at 11:11 CET on 16/09/14. At this time i don't know the times of the flights but that will be become from tomorrow. Check out KLM's web site or social media pages.  

September 7th;

3/5 of the second hand MD11's acquired by Lufthansa are now in store after D-ACLR was withdrawn from use in July. She follows D-ACLO/P and is stored wfu in the USA. This leaves only D-ALCS in service in that batch with the other one, ' CQ' written off in 2010

Western Global Airlines seem to have acquired some MD11's though i can find very little out about them. Thier web site url seemed not to work today when i tried.

N383WA cn 48412/454
N415JN cn 48415/576
N453KD cn 48435/478
N543JN cn 48543/572
N545JN cn 48545/587

N453KD has been leased out to Nordic Global Airlines.

Martinair have announced thier MD11's will be retired by the end of Summer 2016. the KLM/Air France group have been losing money on cargo operations for some time now and see this as the way forward leaving the group operating 2 B777 and 3 B747 freighters.

KLM's seventh MD11 has been retired from service now. PH-KCA flew Amsterdam to Toronto and back on 31/08 KL691/692 arriving back into Amsterdam on 01/09. She is due to fly to the USA on 22/09 for the final time. This now just leaves PH-KCB/D/E in service with KLM until 26/10.
PH-KCB/E are expected to be flown to the USA this year and finally PH-KCD in January 2015. It is hoped KLM will be doing some sort of farewell flights in November but nothing confirmed as yet.

June 2014;

Again i have fallen behind in my updates, too much going on at home, and been to USA as well. Anyway.....

World Airways ceased operation at the end of March 2014. They had been in Chapter 11 since October 2013 and were unable to find financial support to continue. World operated MD11's and Boeing 747-400's and had been a long time McDonnel Dougls customer with DC10's and latterly MD11's. They operated a lot of 3rd party flights, wet lease aircraft and a large amount for the US military.

Centurian Cargo have announced they will replace thier MD11's and become a Boeing 747 only operator.

A new Ghanian airline called Goldstar are rumoured to begin operations with either an MD11 or Boeing 747. Fllying from Accra to London, Baltimore, Guangzhou amongst others. The airlines web site pictures a 747 so i guess they will get no MD11. Services should of commenced in late June but as yet have not started.  

April 7th 2014;

KLM MD11 PH-KCC left Amsterdam today for the final time, being ferried to San Bernardino, CA as KL 9865. It has been sold for spare parts. (Thanks to Rego S Meijer for the picture)

April 1st 2014;

Worlds final 2 passenger MD11's N271/272WA have flown to Goodyear, AZ this week for storage leaving just the 4 KLM  pax versions flying now.
N271WA is pictured above on final approach to Goodyear (hopefully not for the last time yet). Picture courtesy of Jeremy D. Dando

Saudia MD11F HZ-AND made a rare visit to the UK on Sunday 30th, originally planned to go to Heathorw, it ended up going to Stansted unfortunately which is not so easy for me to get to.

March 30th 2014;

KLM MD11 PH-KCC is pictured at Amsterdam in mid March devoid of titles. She has been sold for part out and scrap and is due to fly to San Bernardino, CA (KSBD) on April 7th. (with thanks to Wil Teunissen for the picture)

EVA MD11F B-16112 is now stored at San Bernardino, CA. Not sure why its gone there but PH-KCC is also due to go there in April too.

Old news really but as i haven't had much time of late to update i am a bit behind. Anyway, Ethiopian MD11F ET-AND made a rare visit to Geneva on February 18th bringing in parts for the Boeing 767 that was hijacked and landed there. It stayed just under an hour. Since Swissair finnished MD11 service, they have been quite rare there with Fedex N595FE making an appearnace in 2012.

February 14th 2014;

I'm slowly getting round to updating the site, been real busy at work lately. Thanks for recent info i've been sent, i will get round to reply.
Updated the prod list today. If correct there are now 26 MD11's stored along with 8 that are for scrap and the 9 already scrapped/written off. This makes 43 now, nearly a quarter of the aircraft built. Looking a bit grim with newer aircraft on the scene.

Of the recently stored aircraft, D-ALCO is Lufthansa's first and has gone to Tulsa after the carrier has recieved its first new 777 freighters.
The 3 Aeroflot 11's are now at Victorville.
EVA hve recently put B-16110/110 into storage and 112 will be not far behind i am told.
KLM's PH-KCC is at Amsterdam, and will be ferried to Victorville in the Spring for part out and scrap. 

A petition has been launched in the Netherlands to keep a KLM  MD11 from the scrap man, Its in Dutch of course,  although if you open the page with google chrome it should offer a translation. Please sign it, hopefully with many signatures notice will be taken and KLM will be able to save one. Click the link below;

KLM MD11 petition

If you fancy getting yourself a 2014 Calender of MD11 pictures then check out what Felix Gotttwald has done and order one via the link below;

2014 MD11 Calender

November 2nd 2013;

Something i forgot to add earlier is that all 3 Aeroflot MD11F's are now in store since August at Victorville, CA. The airline blamed rising costs and returned the 3 MD11's to the lessor. They will instead market cargo space in the hold of passenger flights. VP-BDP/BDQ/BDR are stored in the desert with several others now from World, KLM, EVA, Shanghai Airlines to name a few.

October 31st 2013;

World Airways MD11 N273WA is currently in store at Baltimore and is expected to go for scrap to Goodyear, leaving only N271/272WA as passenger aircraft along with KLM's 4 MD11's.

Courtesy of Airliner Routes,  KLM currently plans to operate FINAL MD11 service on 25OCT14. In October 2014, KLM’s MD11 operation as follow.

Amsterdam – Montreal
KL671 AMS1525 – 1645YUL M11 D
KL672 YUL1900 – 0735+1AMS M11 D

Amsterdam – Toronto
KL691 AMS0935 – 1140YYZ M11 D
KL692 YYZ1735 – 0645+1AMS M11 D

Planned MD11 Final service remains subject to change.

This could no doubt change but as of now 1900 at Montreal on 25th October would be the place to be for the last flight......................

October 28th 2013;

PH-KCK has become the sixth MD11 to retire from service with KLM. She operated her last service on 20/21st October to Toronto KL691/692.
At the moment her future is unclear. One would hope she'll escape the axe man but i am not optimistic. SHe will be parked up at Amsterdam for the time being until her future is sorted, joing sister ship KCC.

Talking of PH-KCC, she was recently used by KLM for a childrens event in a hanger at Schipol.300 lucky children got to watch a dsiney movie on board in a hanger along with popcorn and other goodioes provided. Special lighting lit up the aircraft in different colours.

Only now PH-KCA/B/D/E remain in active service with KLM. PH-KCA is the next aircraft expected to be withdrawn from use in September 2014 with the remaining 3 by the end of October 2014.

PH-KCB opertaed a scheduled Amsterdam-London Heathrow sector today,  KL1021/1022 probably enjoyed the larger aircraft due to the disruption caused by the storms across Europe. PH-KCE also made a visit to Heathorw on October 7th operating KL1017/1018 i think because of disruption caused by a French ATC strike.     

September 5th 2013;

PH-KCC pictured at Amsterdam recently, now retired from use by KLM.
In late October/early November she will have all titles/logo's etc painted out.

Lufthansa Cargo are expected to dispose of the first of thier MD11 freighters early 2014. The carrier will recieve thier first 777 freighters later this year and it is expect the 2 former Alitalia MD11's will be first to leave. D-ALCR/CS are slightly different inside than the others in the fleet with a little less cargo space and they seem to need a bit more TLC than the rest of the fleet too.

August 28th 2013;

Another new airline with MD11's start up could be in the air soon.
Western Global Airlines, from Florida, USA plan to start operation shortly with an ex World Airways MD11F cn 48435 ex N384WA which is currently undergoing checks in Singapore. Not sure about initial routes or even where they will be based. They are set up with a former CEO of Southern Air and plan to have 4 MD11's by the end of the year. 

Operations at AV cargo seem to be going to the extent that further MD11 freighters will join the fleet this year. Currently operations are with Z-BAM cn 48746. 2 more MD11's have been acquired, with one join shortly and one expected in Novemember;

Z-BAM cn 48746 (ex World N278WA) active
Z-BPL cn 48756 (ex World N729WA) due September
Z-BVT cn 48410 (ex Varig Log PR-LGE) due November

August 21st 2013;

EVA MD11F B-16111 is now in storage at Victorville, CA

KLM have put PH-KCC up for sale and is now the fifth MD11 to be withdrawn from use. KCC has not flown for some time now (exact date unknown) but KLM decided that 5 aircraft can support the current route network. This will be down to 4 when PH-KCK retires from service in October leaving PH-KCA/B/D/E for the final 12 months.
Current Winter 2013/14 destinations are (subject to alteration) expected to be Montreal, San Francisco and possibly Cairo though the latter is not confirmed.

Fedex MD11F N590FE was at Birmingham (BHX) airport in the UK last week involved with loading trials. Normally BHX has Boeing 757 and ATR72  service from Fedex so it will be quite a jump up to an MD11 assuming the trials were a success.

Another visit to London's Heathrow airport yesterday by KLM MD-11 on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam. PH-KCK operated the KL 1009/1010 rotations, apparently in response to delays that occured at Heathrow on Friday after the incident involving an Ethiopian Boeing 787. 

July 14th 2013;

July 13th 2013;

Nice picture of AV Cargo MD11F Z-BAM taken at Liege recently. (Thanks to Robin Bamps for the picture)

June 13th 2013;

Could we have a new operator for the MD11?? Air Algerie have expressed an interest in acquiring 2 MD11F's for cargo operation. Originally it was mentioned that the 2 from Ethiopian airlines may be acquired but now also rumoured was 2 from KLM, which will then need freighter conversion.

May 29th 2013;

KLM MD-11 PH-KCE made a rare visit to London last week on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam. It operated KL 1019/1020 on 24th May. Usually Heathrow flights are operated by Boeing 737, Fokker 70 or Embraer aircraft. The upgrade was likely due to earlier cancelations caused by an engine fire on a British Airways A319.

April 27th 2013;

Quite a few things to update on so here goes;

PH-KCG's return to Amsterdam on the 15th was due to an engine oil loss problem. She departed again to Victorville on 18th and is pictured above leaving Amsterdam for the very last time and now joins PH-KCF/H/I in the desert. (with thanks to Aaron Willis for the picture).

Avient have had some financial difficulties of late and were placed into administration on April 5th. Their sole MD-11F Z-BVT cn 48410/495 has been at Zurich for some time on a 'C' check.
However, operations will continue after the administrators approved a deal for services to be operated by AV Cargo on behalf of Avient. AV Cargo have acquired former world MD11ER N278WA cn 48746/597. It has been converted to a freighter and operations are expected to commence on 30th April. Av Cargo are expected to get 2 more MD11's.

The 2 ex World MD11's registered to Fedex N68092/68093 that are stored at Victorville are i imagine for spares rather than to use in active serive. N579FE cn 48470/546 is no longer stored.

A few changes at Centurion & Skylease Aero to report.

N951AR cn 48495/461 is currently stored in the USA, possibly at at Marana.
N954AR cn 48498/522 is currently stored at Miami.
N988AR cn 48434/476 is to be scrapped, assume in Brazil.
PH-MCT cn 48629/596 has now been reregistered to N956AR fro Skylease Aero. 

April 15th 2013;

Update;
However, all has not gone to plan for PH-KCG for she is returning to Amsterdam after developing a technical fault en route. It looks like she got as far as Greenland before turning around. Watch this space.....

As planned, PH-KCG is making her last ever flight today,  from Amsterdam to Victorville, CA. She left Amsterdam at 0900 this morning on KL7431. The above is a screen capture from FlightRadar24 showing PHKCG en route over the North Sea.

April 13th 2013;

PH-MCT has left the Martinair fleet and was ferried from Amsterdam to the USA at the end of March. It is currently stored at Orlando Sanford airport awaiting it fate, possibly with a future at Centruion Air Cargo. It is pictured above at Amsterdam the day before its ferry flight to the U.S

PH-KCG's fate is now sealed withe aircraft having been sold for scrap. It is due to be ferried from Amsterdam to Victorville on 15th April to join sister ships PH-KCF/KCH/KCI in the desert. PH-KCK has also been sold for scrap but will fly fro KLM for the Summer season. 
Summer 2013 schedules updated for KLM. Daily flights to Montreal, a return to Toronto several days a week plus seasonal LAX service again is about the lot now with just 6 aircraft operating.

March 9th 2013;

N987AR cn 48427/471 is now in Centurions hands, i saw it at Miami recently looing very shiny in its new colours. It seems however N988AR cn 48434/476 which had a landing incident in Brazil in October 2012 will now be scrapped and not repaired as first thought.  

PH-MCT cn 48629/586 has been withdrawn from use by Martinair and will in all likelihood be scrapped. It is currently parked at Amsterdam awaiting its fate.

January 11th 2013;

This impressive line up of 8 Lufthansa Cargo MD-11's was taken at Frankfurt over the Christmas holidays with the aircraft laid up for the holiday period. From the front are D-ALCP/F/S/D/B/A/L/J.
(Photo courtesy of Thomas Merkl (& Airliners.net))

January 3rd 2013;

Happy New Year and we start with some good news......

Martinair MD11F PH-MCY which has been stored at Amsterdam since early 2012 returned to service today on flight MP1155 to Miami and Buenos Aires. (Thanks to Javier for the info.)