《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 MD-90 fleet retired after two decades

MUCH ADO: Passengers on UNI Air’s last MD-90 flight were given certificates and the crew given flowers as a memento, with the plane taxiing through a water salute

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

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UNI Air’s （立榮航空） last McDonnell Douglas-90 （MD-90） aircraft was yesterday officially decommissioned after two decades carry domestic passengers.

Airline chairman Solomon Lin （林志忠） said that the company would use 15 ATR72-600 aircraft for domestic flights, and Airbus 321 airplanes for international and cross-strait flights after the complete decommissioning of the MD-90 fleet.

The company held a ceremony yesterday afternoon at Taipei International Airport （Songshan airport） in honor of the MD-90’s two decades in service, which was attended by UNI Air chief executive vice president Chen Shyong-jyh （陳雄智）, as well as Civil Aeronautics Administration officials and other government agencies. They greeted the arrival of the MD-90 aircraft, which had just made the trip from Kinmen to Taipei.

Each passenger aboard was presented with a certificate saying that they were witnesses to the historic moment. Flight and cabin crew were given flowers in recognition of their service.

The company gave a final water salute to the aircraft.

Lin said that the MD-90 aircraft were the first-generation fleet in the Evergreen Group, which owns both EVA Air and UNI Air.

He said that UNI Air had been using them for short-distance flights for both airlines after introducing 14 of the aircraft in 1996.

Lin added that the aircraft was used when the nation launched charter flights from Kaohsiung International Airport to Shanghai Pudong International Airport during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2003.

The same aircraft was used for the first weekend charter flights in 2008 from Songshan airport to Pudong airport, he said.

College graduates surnamed Cheng （鄭） and Chan （詹） were aboard when the MD-90 made its last trip to Taipei. Wearing graduation caps and gowns, they took photographs with the aircraft.

Chan said that he booked the tickets right away when he saw the news last month and decided that he had to take the last flight on the MD-90.

UNI Air said the aircraft had been deployed 417,062 times to service routes in Taiwan proper and its outlying islands, as well as those across the Taiwan Strait, carrying more than 10 million passengers.

Removing the MD-90 fleet would lower the average age of the aircraft that UNI Air owns to 2.1 years, the company said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES