The Cambodian aircraft has been abandoned at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport for 14 years.
The Boeing 727-200 was left at Noi Bai Airport by Cambodia’s Royal Khmer Airlines in May 2007 following a technical malfunction. Royal Khmer Airlines also ceased operations in 2007.
In November 2014, the Cambodian State Secretariat of Civil Aviation notified Vietnam’s aviation authorities that the Royal Khmer Airlines operator's certificate had been revoked. The ill-fated Boeing B727-200 had it's aircraft registration removed in October 2008 by Cambodian authorities.
The Cambodian State Secretariat of Civil Aviation said Vietnam could deal with the abandoned aeroplane.
Technical checks by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam showed that the aeroplane had been seriously damaged.
In 2017, the Ministry of Transport was assigned to organise the auction for the aircraft. However, to date, the auction has attracted no participants as they said the aircraft now couldn’t operate and could only be used for display and as a coffee shop.
Noi Bai Airport has proposed to use the aircraft for fire and counter-terrorism drills. Meanwhile, another company has also proposed to buy the aircraft at VND3 billion which would be paid for by goods and it would be turned into a coffee shop. All these proposals were rejected.
The Vietnam Aviation Academy has also proposed to the Ministry of Transport to use the passenger jet for its training activities but their proposal has also been left pending for over half a year.
