Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
This FR concludes the short series about the aviation in Kyrgyzstan. Whereas the previous FR was devoted to a very special aircraft type - 4-engine high-wing small narrowbody RJ85 of TezJet (K9) which I flew from Bishkek (BSZ) to Jalal-Abad (JBD), this report covers the return flight from Osh (OSS) to Bishkek on an iconic T-tail 2-engine narrowbody - K9's MD83.
In the summer schedule-2025 K9 mostly served OSS with its RJ85s twice a day, but on Tuesdays the evening rotation was operated by MD83 (which serves some international destinations most of the time). Thus, I purposedly chose the dates of my short trip from Bishkek to the south of Kyrgyzstan to be able to fly the both rare types. Worth noting that now, in the winter schedule, OSS is served by the MD83 daily.
The price for OSS-BSZ ticket was the same as of the BSZ-JBD one: 50 USD.
MD80 Remaining Passenger Operators
The MD80 family, which includes MD81, MD82, MD83, MD88 and MD87, was produced from 1980 until 1999. The MD81/82/83/88 variants share the same fuselage of 41.6 meters length and differ by engine thrust and range (with MD81 having the shortest range, MD82 having more range than MD81, and MD83/88 having the longest range), whereas MD87 variant is a shorter one with 39.8 meters length.
Even though the number of the MD80 family's passenger operators and the total number of these aircrafts is still not insignificant, almost all the operators are based in Iran and Venezuela with a few exceptions (Dominicana, Congo and Kyrgyzstan). It would be useful to list them and their layouts.
1) Aeropostal: 2 MD82s (C12_Y128).
2) ATA Airlines: 1 MD82 (Y165) plus 10 MD83s (Y165) plus 2 MD87s.
3) Atlas Air: 1 MD83.
4) Canadian Airways Congo: 1 MD82 (Y153) plus 2 MD82s (Y164) plus 1 MD83 (Y149).
5) Caspian Airlines: 1 MD82 plus 4 MD83s.
6) Chabahar Airlines: 2 MD82s plus 2 MD83s.
7) Fly Kish Airlines: 1 MD82 plus 1 MD88 (Y172).
8) Iran Airtour: 4 MD82s (C24_Y115, Y160) plus 1 MD83 plus 1 MD87.
9) Kish Air: 4 MD82s (C20_Y129) plus 2 MD83s (Y156).
10) LASER Airlines: 2 MD81s (Y163) plus 4 MD82s plus 2 MD83s (C12_Y129).
11) RED Air: 2 MD82s (C12_Y137).
12) Rutaca Airlines: 2 MD82s (Y164) plus 2 MD83s plus 1 MD88.
13) Sahand Airlines: 1 MD83.
14) Taban Airlines: 1 MD82 plus 3 MD88s (Y172).
15) TezJet: 1 MD83 (Y164) - the final MD80 built.
16) Venezolana: 1 MD83 (Y150).
17) World Atlantic Airlines: 4 MD83s (C12_Y134, C8_Y142, C8_Y144, C8_Y147).
18) Zagros Air: 4 MD82s (Y165) plus 2 MD83s (Y165).
TezJet MD83 LOPA
As TezJet's fleet LOPAs are not listed anywhere, I'll show a screenshot from "manage my booking" interface of the airline's website.
The cabin consists of 164 economy seats, arranged in 2-3 layout in 34 rows.
Online seat selection was available at a fee, but I skipped I chose a seat for free in the airport.
Airplane Graveyard Near OSS
Not far from the OSS terminal (1 km to the south) one can find a graveyard of old Soviet aircrafts: several Ilyushin-76s, Antonov-12 and Yakovlev-40. This is where the old airport used to be.
Ilyushin Il-76s and their engines.
Antonov An-12.
Yakovlev Yak-40.
Osh International Airport (OSS)
OSS is located north of Osh city very close to the Uzbekistan's border and connected with the city centre by bus service.
OSS terminal from outside.
The adjacent square and a mosque.
FID for departures near the entrance. Most of today's flights are domestic to Bishkek, but there are a few international flights to Novosibirsk, Kazan, Moscow and Almaty.
The international check-in hall and its ceiling.
Domestic flights check-in desks are located in a separate small hall.
My BP. Onboard I changed my seat to 31F.
Downstairs there are airlines' offices and a cafeteria (with a very limited choice of food, though, despite the vast menu).
The domestic airside is very dull. The only interesting thing was this poster, promoting of a kurut-based drink (Kyrgyzstan has a large variety of fermented milk drinks).
Planespotting in OSS
A little bit of planespotting from the OSS terminal. An S7 A321 (RA-73414, ex VP-BPC) arriving from Novosibirsk.
The Aircraft
And here comes the star of the show: 1999-built EX-80017, the last ever built member of MD80 family, landing from BSZ. K9 formally has another MD83 (1996-built EX-80003) in the fleet, but the latter is grounded due to frequent malfunctions, and only its younger sibling serves the duty.
The "Mad Dog", taxiing to the parking position. Please note on the 1st photo in the gallery that all the windows after the rear emergency exit on the left side are completely obstructed by the engine.
Ground services are ready.
Passengers from BSZ are disembarking.
Baggage unloaded; the aircraft is ready for boarding of BSZ-bound passengers.
Boarding
Boarding in OSS is walk-in only, which allows to see this beautiful aircraft from different angles. But the ground staff told me that taking photos is forbidden, so it was a bit tricky.
I chose to board via the tail, which has a built-in ladder. Views of the famous T-tail and tail-mounted PW JT8D-219 engines.
For the first time in my life I board an aircraft via its tail!
The Cabin
A general view of the cabin with its 2-3 layout from the very rear. Notice that there's only 1 emergency exit in the rear part of the fuselage, on the left side. Worth noting that, in contrast to the previous flight on RJ85, the MD83 crew were not especially friendly and told that taking photos onboard is not permitted. But I continued in order to document this flight for the history and no consequences followed.
The rear emergency exit and the crew's jumpseat near it.
Between the tail door and this exit there are 4 blocks of duo seats, which at the first glance seem to be the best seats on this plane, but they have a huge drawback: the window views are completely obstructed by the portside engine, as I mentioned earlier. That's why I had to choose a seat in a 3-seater block on the right side. Worth noting that the other K9's MD83 (EX-80003), which is almost always grounded due to malfunctions, has better location of these duo blocks with good engine views.
Views of the rest - large - part of the cabin during boarding.
The overhead compartments.
The Economy Seat
My initially chosen seat was 30F…
… but I asked the passenger from 31F to swap the seats for the better engine view and thankfully she agreed.
These seats - with good padding and fabric upholstery - feels way more spacious and comfortable than the ultratight seats in RJ85 on the previous flight. The seatwidth is 17.2", which is on par with B737s. Surely, it feels tight if one compare MD83 with much wider A220 (having the same 2-3 layout but with 18.5" seatwidth), but for this short flight it's more than OK.
The seat has green fabric cover (instead of antimacassar), tray table and "leather" seat pocket. The row pitch is more than OK for this short flight - two heads above the abysmal row pitch in RJ85.
The vintage overhead panel.
The seatpocket contains only safety card. Worth noting that the aircraft is designated as "Boeing MD83" - it was built 2 years after McDonnell-Douglas' merger with Boeing.
The starboard engine view from my seat 31F.
The cargo door is located right below my seat, and I was able to watch the baggage loading process.
The wing view from my seat. It seems like the construction of the new terminal is underway.
The Flight
Pushback is commenced.
Some planespotting from the window. 30 years old B733 (EX-37015) of Avia Traffic Company.
2013-built DH4 (EX-21002) of Asman Airlines. The 3 Asman's DH4s are the youngest airplanes in Kyrgyzstan.
Taxiing to the runway with flaps in the takeoff configuration.
Lining up with the runway.
Views of some airworthy Ilyushin-76s and an Antonov-74 as we're accelerating down the runway.
A view of the Osh and its sacred Sulaiman-Too, towering over the city. Sadly, I was unable to explore the city as I got food poisoning a day before after I ate a cream cake bought on Jalal-Abad intercity bus station, and recovered only a few hours before this flight. So, be cautious when buying something creamy in Kyrgyzstan!
Outskirts of Osh, which is de-facto located in Fergana Valley.
Climbing out of OSS.
Flaps off; cultivated fields of the Valley are left behind; arid lanscapes begin.
An inflight engine view.
Cutting the clouds and reaching the cruising FL. It became apparent that sadly there'll be no views of the gorgeous Kyrgyz mountains because of the vast cyclon that has rolled over the region.
A simultaneous wing- and engine view.
Even though the "fasten seatbelt" sign was kept on the entire flight, I decided to stretch the legs. As on the previous flight on RJ85, no inflight service was provided.
An inflight cabin view.
Tour de lavatoirie.
The lav's door.
The last bit of the blue sky before diving into the clouds as we're starting our descent.
The cabin during the descent.
Spoilers deployed, starting maneuvring in the grey haze over the plains near Bishkek.
Flaps going out.
Flaps in the landing config; in the 100% humidity the wing produces a vortex.
Landing in rainy BSZ and rolling past ancient cargo B742F.
Vacating the runway.
2 Avia Traffic's A320 near the BSZ terminal.
An HY A20N from Tashkent.
Parking position near the terminal.
The stair is coming (but not for the passengers).
A Turkish Cargo B77F from IST.
A KC A20N from Almaty.
The entire K9's subfleet of RJ85s; one of them flew me a day before from BSZ to JBD.
The Cabin After The Flight
The disembarkment was only via the tail door, but the crew thankfully permitted me to take some photos of the cabin from the front. Here are the cabin views from different angles before leaving the aircraft.
The Aircraft After The Flight
Views of the T-tail and the rear stair of our "Mad Dog".
Views of the aircraft from the bus, taking the passengers to the terminal.
And the last glance on the "Mad Dog" from the terminal.
Planespotting in BSZ
And, to conclude this FR, a view of the ancient cargo B742F and A300F, parked in BSZ.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
I love the MD-80, its one of my favourite airliners and I'm glad to see you got a flight on one over in the CIS region!
Many thanks for your FR.
I really love the MD-80, one of my favorite aircrafts. So nice memories flying with the MD-80 from ORY to NCE and from FCO to MLA and maybe some others flights.
I always wanted to seat in the last rows, just to be able to hear the fabulous sound of the two engines!
Enjoy your flights!