Shanghai Trijets: The MD-11 in China

The MD-11 as a passenger aircraft was not a wild success. Failing initially to meet performance guarantees and suffering a poor safety record for a modern aircraft, the type nevertheless provided China Eastern's first grounding in long-haul operations and has excelled globally as a freighter. Only ten aircraft were operated in China, but they saw service for over 20 years, in both passenger and freighter configuration, more than proving the worth of the last of the tri-jets.

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The breakup of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which began in 1979, but didn't see the creation of six nominally independent airlines formed around the regional bureaus of CAAC until 1987-91, led to the Beijing regional bureau, renamed as Air China, taking on all of CAAC's long-haul fleet, which consisted of Boeing 707s and 747s. The last of the Ilyushin Il-62s had been retired in 1988, while a small collection of Airbus A310s and Boeing 767-200s was also available.

This monopoly on international routes wouldn't last. Shanghai based China Eastern Airlines ordered 6 McDonnell Douglas MD-11s (5 passenger versions and 1 freighter) in January 1989, with the first arriving in May 1991. The big trijet had been gaining significant traction with airlines and had amassed a decent number of orders and options prior to its first flight in January 1990. However, the aircraft's failure to meet performance guarantees, plus strong competition and some bad luck led to that order book contracting significantly.

China's relationship with McDonnell Douglas was beginning to struggle by this time with the licence built MD-80 Trunkliner programme failing to deliver and no further orders for the MD-11 would be forthcoming in the Chinese market as airlines switched to Boeing 767-300s and Airbus A340s.

​Nonetheless the MD-11s enabled China Eastern to expand into long-haul services. Routes flown included routes from Shanghai to Los Angeles and Seattle, via Japan, as well as Bahrain and Brussels. ​The passenger versions were configured in a 340 seat two-class layout, but were equipped so that their internal layout could be easily altered by moving seats, dividers, galleys and lavatories.

Below: B-2170 was China Eastern's sole MD-11 delivered as a freighter

China Eastern Cargo McDonnell Douglas MD-11F B-2170 1:400 Scale Model by HX Models

The sole freighter was utilised on services from Shanghai to Seattle and Chicago. China Eastern reported 99% dispatch reliability with its MD-11s and added the remaining three aircraft (B-2173-75) up to December 1993. The extra MD-11s enabled China Eastern to expand its routes to include both Chicago and Madrid.

contri from Yonezawa, Yamagata, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

It wasn't all success however as on April 6, 1993 B-2171 experienced an inflight emergency en-route from Shanghai to Los Angeles when the pilot accidentally deployed the leading edge slats in cruise. Attempts to correct the aircraft's initial pitching resulted  in severe oscillations and a loss of 5,000 foot in altitude. By the time the aircraft was recovered two passengers had been killed and 149 others injured, as well as 7 crew members. ​

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This was one of six loss of control events by that point with the MD-11 and the investigation revealed several design flaws in cockpit and horizontal stabiliser design as well as crew training. The MD-11s sometimes questionable handling characteristics, especially on landing, as well as relatively poor economics and performance was no doubt one of the reasons that the types sales were not as McDonnell Douglas had hoped.

contri from Yonezawa-Shi, Yamagata, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Nevertheless, China Eastern persisted with the type and did not have any further issues, though no further orders were forthcoming either. The MD-11s were instead joined by 5 A340-300s from May 1996 and in July 1999 China Eastern announced it would begin to convert its MD-11s to all freight configurations using Israel Aircraft Industries to carry out the work. 

The replacement for the MD-11s chosen was the Airbus A340-600. Two of the MDs (B-2173 & 74) were converted to freighters in 1999/2000 however the other three remained as passenger aircraft until 2004. All six ended up with China Eastern's joint venture cargo subsidiary China Cargo who operated them until they were retired in 2010/11. All were sold on to Sky Lease Cargo in the United States but didn't see long service with them.

Shimin Gu (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2 ), via Wikimedia Commons

The MD-11 undoubtedly has proven a superior freighter to passenger aircraft and China Eastern wasn't the only Chinese airline to operate them this way. In June 2006 Shanghai Airlines Cargo was established as a joint venture between Shanghai Airlines and Eva Air of Taiwan. The airline’s initial equipment was a pair of 757s and a pair of Eva Air MD-11 freighters (later joined by two more). The MD-11s operated services through the main cargo hubs at Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Osaka, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, Anchorage, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Following the takeover of Shanghai Airlines by China Eastern the cargo division was merged into China Cargo Airlines in June 2011. This included the MD-11s, aside from B-2176 which was returned to GECAS. By this time however China Cargo had begun to take delivery of new Boeing 777 frighters and had just completed the disposal of all the former China Eastern MD-11s.

MarcelX42, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The ex-Shanghai aircraft would not serve for long with China Cargo and their last MD-11 appears to have been B-2179 that was stored in November 2013 bringing to an end 22 years of Chinese MD-11 operations. Three of the four would go on to careers with Western Global Airlines.