@ Atlanta, GA
February 2020
Launched in 1986, the MD-88 would be the last variant of the MD-80, with orders and options from Delta Air Lines for 80 aircraft. Final commercial flight of this type in the U.S. was on June 2, 2020 by Delta Air Lines, four months after this photo was taken. First flown in 1979, the MD-80 family was the second generation of the DC-9 airliner with a fuselage stretch and larger wing. Delta operated 120 of these in their fleet, retired early due to the pandemic. The third generation MD-90, was stretched again, fitted with high-bypass turbofans, and an updated flight deck. The shorter and final version, the MD-95, was renamed the Boeing 717 after McDonnell Douglas’s merger with Boeing in 1997. The DC-9 family production (1965 – 2006) had a total delivery of 2441 units: 976 DC-9s, 1191 MD-80s, 116 MD-90s, and 155 Boeing 717s.