American MD-80's make a come back

American Airlines MD-82 (53031/1819) N7549A smokes the mains on Rwy 25L at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS/KLAS) on December 16, 2011.

 

(Photo by Michael Carter)

For years, American has focused on getting rid of its McDonnell Douglas MD-80. the planes that made it great in the 1980s and 1990s but today are aging and inefficient.

But this summer, American has brought back three MD80s to serve on routes between Dallas/Fort Worth and three cities: Corpus Christi and Lubbock, Texas, and Guadalajara Mexico.

The MD80s replaced regional jets flown by American Eagle and were scheduled to be in use from June 12 through August 26.

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“Corpus Christi and Lubbock have mainline flights this summer for the first time in years,” said American spokesman Kent Powell. “We’re excited to bring two-class service (there).”

 

Powell said the planes had been designated as spares but had not been decommissioned.

Former CEO Robert Crandall placed a historic order for MD80s in 1984.

Today American still operates about 200 MD-80s, with all but 45 to 60 of them scheduled to come out of the fleet by 2016, when new Boeing and Airbus jets replace them.

 The newer MD-80s, which came from TWA in the 2000 merger, are only 12 to 16 years old, Powell said.

American has orders for 260 new Airbus jets and 260 new Boeing jets, all set to join the fleet by 2016. Last week, American took possession of its first A319.

“We are in the midst of a very exciting time at AA with new aircraft coming online nearly weekly,” Powell said. “Starting in August, we take delivery of three new A319s every month. Starting in November, we’ll bring on the 321s – and this on top of our 737-800s we’ve been taking from Boeing since last year.

“Last Thursday we took delivery of number 21 of these new BSI Sky Interior aircraft and we anticipate ten more yet this year,” he said. “I say all this to underscore this summer’s temporary move to fulfill seasonal demand in heavy markets out of our hubs as we await these new aircraft.”

The new 737 Boeing sky interior has sculpted sidewalls, bigger windows, LED lighting and larger, pivoting overhead storage bins.

Among U.S. carriers, only American, Allegiant and Delta fly the MD 80. Delta, in fact, not only flies 117 MD 88s, but also still flies 17 DC-9s, with an average age of 34.6 years. The DC9, the MD-80 predecessor, was discontinued in 1982.

“They primarily fly out of Atlanta,” said Delta spokesman Anthony Black. “We are phasing them out through very early 2014.”

(Ted Reed - Forbes)