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They fly them in, where they are officially handed over to a third party for possibly resale, but more than likely cannibalization and the scrapping. American
by peckrob 9y ago
They fly them in, where they are officially handed over to a third party for possibly resale, but more than likely cannibalization and the scrapping.
American Airlines retired 20 MD-80s at once last year and documented the whole thing. [0] You can also search #Super80Sendoff on Twitter to see thoughts at the time. [1] They sent theirs to Roswell, New Mexico I think, but it's the same general idea.
[0] https://airwaysmag.com/airchive/american-retires-20-md-80/ https://airwaysmag.com/airchive/american-retires-20-md-80/
[1] https://twitter.com/hashtag/Super80Sendoff https://twitter.com/hashtag/Super80Sendoff
- billforsternz 9y agoReally enjoyed the airwaysmag.com article, thanks. The article was meticulously put together with obvious passion for the field and the people who work in it. Even the reading experience on mobile was pretty good which is unusual these days. I was surprised by one or two details, including the fact that some of these quintessential American airliners were actually manufactured in China, as long as 25 years ago.
- peckrob 9y ago> I was surprised by one or two details, including the fact that some of these quintessential American airliners were actually manufactured in China, as long as 25 years ago. It's rumored in aviation circles that COMAC secretly reused the MD-80 jigs and tooling to develop the ARJ21 [0], which bears a strong resemblance to the DC-9/MD-80 series jets. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comac_ARJ21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comac_ARJ21
- tuna-piano 9y agoThank you very much for sharing the airwaysmag article. Can't believe how emotional I felt reading it. Very well written.