Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos" proudly welcomed in Greece a flying legend yesterday, Tuesday, April 27th, at 18:48. Do-24ATT, visited Athens as part of its World Tour and this gave us the honour of hosting this historic aircraft. In 1929, Dr. Claude Dornier presented a wonder: the 12-engine all-metal flying boat Dornier Do-X which was in its day the largest, heaviest, and most powerful aircraft in the world. Exactly 75 years after the Do-X flight around the world, Capt. Iren Dornier duplicated his grandfather's spectacle flying the Dornier Do-24ATT to over 50 destinations around the globe in what is dubbed as: "Kayang Kaya*! Historic Flight for Dreams". * "We can do it!" The Do24-ATT aircraft was based on the original flying boat model designed and built in the 1930s but improved with turbine engines, new wing and landing gear, making it an amphibian aircraft, now reconfigured to accommodate 10 passengers and 5 crew members.
A World Tour is now under way. The tour is under the command of Capt. Iren Dornier and is assisted by First Officers Christian Kerr and Nick Gitsis. The send off took place at Manila Bay. Some of the chosen destinations include most of the places where the Do-X have previously landed. These include the Hong Kong Harbor, Hudson River in New York, Lake Constance bordering Switzerland and Germany (where the Do-X took off on its own world tour), the coasts of South America, Africa, Asia, then back to the Philippines where it be added to SEAIR's fleet as luxury charter aircraft to cater to a select few world-class tourist destinations. She will also participate in international air shows including the Berlin International Air Show, the Toronto Air Show, the international air show in the United Kingdom, and the aerospace air show in Ohio, USA. At Athens International Airport, the Deputy CEO, Dr. Yiannis Paraschis, welcomed the aircraft and offered Capt. Dornier a commemorative plaque on the occasion of the visit of the Do24-ATT in Athens during the aircraft's World Tour. The tour primarily aims at encouraging awareness and support for the development programs of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Capt. Dornier donates a portion of the funds generated from this endeavour to the UNICEF (Philippines) to build school houses for the abandoned and neglected Filipino children which now number more than 400,000 in Metro Manila alone.