For the October edition of "HNL RareBirds Classic", we go back to January 1998, when this Swissair (SR/SWR) MD-11, HB-IWO (c/n 48540, l/n 611), paid a charter visit to HNL. It's seen above, parked on North Ramp Hardstand 1A, along with a Hawaiian Air DC-10-10 (Hardstand 1B), and a Continental Airlines DC-10-30 (Hardstand 1C). The empty lot in the foreground is now the United Airlines Cargo Facility, it was in the process of clearing and leveling the land prior to construction.
HB-IWO was originally delivered to Swissair in March 1997. It remained with Swiss International Air Lines (LX/SWR) as
HB-IWO, after the assets of Swissair underwent restructuring in March 2002. Two years later, in May 2004, it was acquired by Varig (RG/VRN), and registered as
PP-VTK. UPS then bought 48540 from Varig in February 2007, had it converted to freighter, and had it registered as N288UP. It's seen above, being pushed out of Hardstand A on HNL's South Ramp, last year. It's amazing to see this airliner's progression, and that I was able to get it's original livery, and its present livery. As with most of the UPS MD-11F fleet, N288UP makes its occasional rotation through HNL.
