The last of Delta’s MD-88s and MD-90s flew their final flights today, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Now they will be ferried to Blytheville, Ark., for retirement. The company had previously planned to retire the149-seat MD-88 by the end of 2020 but moved up the schedule. As of February this year, prior to the coronavirus-driven fleet reduction, there were 47 MD-88s and 29 MD-90s operating. The MD-88 and MD-90 aircraft have been referred to as the Mad Dog for years.
Delta says the two aircraft carried more than 750 million customers during their operation over the course of 33 years. The aircraft were variants of the DC-9 and the MD-88s have been in service since 1987, at the Atlanta-headquartered airline. Delta was the launch customer for the MD-90.