The Boeing 757-200M is a Combi version of the popular twin jet, meaning cargo can be loaded onto the main deck in place of passenger seats. Just one example was produced for Royal Nepal Airlines.
Powered by two Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 engines, the aircraft registered as 9N-ACB and named Gandaki was delivered on 15 September 1988. The airline needed it to operate mixed passenger and freight loads out of Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, with its 4,390ft / 1,338m elevation.
Boeing 757-200M Videos
Following on from the last video about the Russian Ilyushin IL-114, this time we take a look at the Boeing 757-200M. The first video is produced by Aviation Nepal and runs for just under three minutes.
The first 1:40 shows the plane in storage, and you can clearly see the cargo door in the video. Next up you can see the 757 in action on taxi and take-off. It certainly looks a lot fresher here!
Finally, there is an eight minute production from Boeing showing the manufacture of Royal Nepal Airlines first Boeing 757. It’s a standard model and the video quality is terrible, but still worth a look from a historical perspective.
This shows the roll out, painting and cabin interior, all set to a jaunty 1980s soundtrack. I’m sure they don’t make them like that any longer!
Overall Thoughts
The unique Boeing 757-200M was later converted to an all passenger configuration (16 business and 174 economy) for its final years. It was eventually put into storage in March 2019 after almost 31 years in service.
Combi aircraft were once quite popular, but they fell out of favour and are no longer manufactured. This particular 757 would have been one of the last of this kind of aircraft in service.
Have you ever flown on the Boeing 757-200M or any other Combi before? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
Enjoying the series? Check out the index to all the “Does Anyone Remember…” articles.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Featured image by Andre Wadman on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
The only place I’ve ever seen the 757M was on the Airline Empires game. The performance on the game is not the best so I never ordered it, now I know why. Next up: “Does anyone remember DaVinci’s Helicopter?”. Kidding, sort of.
Hahahahaha! Imagine! 🙂
ATI operates 4 757-200 combis. N751CX, N752CX, N753CX, N754CX
https://www.airtransport.cc/our-fleet/757-200-combi
https://www.jetphotos.com/registration/N751CX
Nice find! These were all originally built as passenger aircraft and then converted though, which means they’re not Boeing 757-200Ms. I had no idea these existed though, so this is good to know. Thanks for that!
If you look at flight tracking, it appears they’re operating US military charters.
Interesting!
I saw the 757-200M once. Accounting can show the program was either a disaster or profitable. It is a disaster because only one plane was made. It was a success in that the engineering to design the door and door frame structure was reused to make the 757PF, many of which were sold to UPS and other air freight companies.
I have flown aboard a Lufthansa and KLM Boeing 747-200 Combi as well as an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-200QC (quick change or combi). The 737-200QC has rear air stairs coming out of the rear door (not the fuselage like the DC-9 emergency exit). There were small gaps in the front of the passenger cabin so you could peek at the cargo.
Those PFs were quite popular all round, so it all worked out well in the end. I’ve never been on a combi aircraft myself, but there were quite a few knocking around up until the 90s really. They seem to have gone away from that period onwards. Pretty cool that you’ve been on a couple of them. Thanks for that!