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Goodbye, Mad Dog. Delta Retires MD-88 In July, Plans MD-90 Exit

This article is more than 3 years old.

Delta Air Lines DAL operated 116 MD-88 “Mad Dog” aircraft at its peak through early 2017, but come July the last will leave the fleet.

Delta is accelerating retirement of older aircraft during the COVID-19 downturn. The MD-88s were due to leave in December, but other aircraft will see a faster retirement, like its sister the MD-90.

“We'll probably be making that decision soon and in a similar vein,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian told investors about the MD-90. Only the MD-88 is officially being retired as of this week, but Bastian cast a wide net on retirements.

“Anything that was scheduled to retire over the next five years has an accelerated path toward retirement,” Bastian said. “There’s some of the older models” of the 757 and 767, he said.

Delta had only 18 MD-88s on March 31, down from 47 on December 31. Delta booked a $22 million impairment charge this quarter on the MD-88’s accelerated retirement.

As Delta has not officially confirmed any further retirements, there are no other charges. “We evaluated the remainder of our fleet and determined that no fleet other than the MD-88 was impaired,” Delta said.

The remaining 18 MD-88s average 29 years old. Delta’s 27 MD-90s are slightly younger at 23 years old. Delta owns all of its remaining MD-88s and MD-90s; there are none on lease.

MORE FROM FORBESDelta's MD-88 In 4 Charts: Early Retirement For Its Oldest And Least Used Aircraft

All 18 MD-88s are in Delta’s active fleet. Of the 27 MD-90s, nine are in Delta’s active fleet and 18 are temporarily parked.

Delta’s MD-90 fleet peaked lower than the MD-88. Delta had 65 MD-90s from 2013-2017 and then started retiring them, ending 2018 with 43 and 2019 with 30.

Narrowbodies at Delta average 14 years old. The MD-88, A320, MD-90 and 757-200 are Delta’s oldest and over 20 years old. Between 17 and 19 years old are the 757-300, A319, 717 and 737-800 fleets.

American Airlines AAL last September retired its MD-80s, which it called the “Super 80.” American operated the MD-81, MD-82, MD-83 and MD-87, but not the MD-88 variant Delta flies.

At its peak, American had 362 MD-80s in 2002 and 2003. By 2004, the MD-80 accounted for 49% of American’s fleet. American operated one-third of MD-80 production.

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