Coronavirus sends MD-88 ‘Mad Dog’ jets to an early retirement from US fleets
A noisier era of aviation ends Tuesday when Delta retires its “Mad Dog” jets. Its remaining MD-88s — and a quieter, younger model, the MD-90 — are headed to an early retirement because of the coronavirus pandemic. Delta expected to retire the twin-engine MD-88s at the end of this year and the MD-90s by the end of 2022, but a sharp drop in travel demand has prompted it to idle more than 600 planes and retire some of its older jets early. The carrier is also planning to retire its Boeing 777 fleet by the end of the year. Delta is the last US airline to operate the planes after American Airlines retired its MD-80 fleet in September. The retirement also ends the era of the McDonnell Douglas name, the company that Boeing acquired in 1997. The planes’ were based on a jet whose history stretches back to the 1960s, the DC-9.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2020-06-03/sky/coronavirus-sends-md-88-2018mad-dog2019-jets-to-an-early-retirement-from-us-fleets
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Coronavirus sends MD-88 ‘Mad Dog’ jets to an early retirement from US fleets
A noisier era of aviation ends Tuesday when Delta retires its “Mad Dog” jets. Its remaining MD-88s — and a quieter, younger model, the MD-90 — are headed to an early retirement because of the coronavirus pandemic. Delta expected to retire the twin-engine MD-88s at the end of this year and the MD-90s by the end of 2022, but a sharp drop in travel demand has prompted it to idle more than 600 planes and retire some of its older jets early. The carrier is also planning to retire its Boeing 777 fleet by the end of the year. Delta is the last US airline to operate the planes after American Airlines retired its MD-80 fleet in September. The retirement also ends the era of the McDonnell Douglas name, the company that Boeing acquired in 1997. The planes’ were based on a jet whose history stretches back to the 1960s, the DC-9.<br/>
