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American Airlines has just announced that the last commercial flights its ancient MD-80 aircraft will operate will be on 3 and 4 September 2019 and the airline has released a list of the final 22 flights to be operated by the retiring aircraft.
American Airlines has just 26 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft left in its fleet (the airline has had over 380 such aircraft at one time or another) and the retirement of the MD-80 signals the end of another era at American Airlines.
The MD-80 (often known as the ‘Super 80’ or, more colloquially, the ‘Mad Dog’) was an aircraft that you couldn’t avoid if you flew American Airlines in the ’80s and the ’90s and it was still going strong on a number of routes when I first started flying frequently with the airline 14 years ago.
The aircraft had its fair share of detractors (you often couldn’t hear yourself think if you were seated at the rear of the Economy Class cabin near the engines) but thanks to regular elite upgrades I mostly flew in the First Class cabin of the MD-80s…
….and I actually quite liked it.
Compared to the abomination we see served up by American Airlines in its ‘Oasis’ equipped aircraft nowadays the MD-80 was a haven for a lot of flyers (although none of us realized it at the time) and I was very fond of the wide and spacious seats offered in the First Class cabin.
Sadly time has caught up with the MD-80 (it has been a comparatively inefficient aircraft for years) so September 4th will be the last day we’ll see it offering commercial service in American Airlines livery.
Here are the last 22 scheduled MD-80 flights (subject to change):
Bottom Line
If any readers are booked on one of these final flights please say a fond farewell to the ‘Mad Dog’ for me and let me know (via email or the comments section below) if American does anything special on any of these flights – the aircraft deserves a good final bow.
