AAL to retire 20 MD-80's on 23rd August 2016

dptpa · Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:33 am

As the thread title says, American Airlines is set to retire 20 MD-80's on August 23rd.

The aircraft bound for Roswell will be departing from all over the US, including Chicago, Salt Lake City, Tampa, Minneapolis, Raleigh, Pittsburgh, and Dallas-Fort Worth. 17 of the aircraft were originally delivered to American Airlines, while 3 were acquired from TWA. The average age of the aircraft being retired tomorrow is 28 years old.

https://blog.flightradar24.com/blog/american-airlines-retiring-20-md-80s-to-roswell/

RayChuang · Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:36 am

At that age, and given the fact they were flown on a lot of short to medium range routes, no wonder why all those planes are headed for the "boneyard" for eventual scrapping.

rta · Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:38 am

Registration Type Year Delivered
N403A MD-82 1986
N436AA MD-82 1987
N477AA MD-82 1988
N479AA MD-82 1988
N481AA MD-82 1988
N482AA MD-82 1988
N485AA MD-82 1989
N486AA MD-82 1989
N493AA MD-82 1989
N499AA MD-82 1989
N564AA MD-83 1987
N565AA MD-83 1987
N569AA MD-83 1987
N570AA MD-83 1987
N571AA MD-83 1987
N70504 MD-82 1989
N7520A MD-82 1990
N9401W MD-83 1993*
N9402W MD-83 1993*
N9404V MD-83 1993*

lightsaber · Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:38 am

Wow. That is a mass retirement.

28 years of age is respectable.

Lightsaber

freakyrat · Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:43 am

I may have rode one of those from Denver to DFW Sunday.

exFWAOONW · Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:47 am

28 is just a "teen" for Douglas birds.

dptpa · Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:49 am

Any insight in to the timing of this mass retirement? End of summer travel season perhaps which affords some slack in fleet utilization?

N5814D · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:08 am

I'll miss the Mad Dog, rode on that bird plenty of times from KOKC to various destinations...Matter of fact, the last one I took was KDFW-KOKC withthe coolest F/A ever. Had a great conversation about aviation and received free cocktails on a flight so short that there was no proper beverage service.

lightsaber · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:13 am

This is part of a preplanned fleet down sizing.

http://airwaysnews.com/blog/2016/01/29/ ... 016-fleet/

AA is rationalizing their fleet with 37 MD-80 planned MD-80 retirements this quarter

Since we just exited peak season, the timing is reasonable.

Lightsaber

dbo861 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:23 am

After tomorrow, how many MD80s will remain in AA's fleet?

a36001 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:39 am

How does retiring 20 aircraft in one day effect the airlines schedule? Does AA have aircraft spare to cover the routes that would have been operated by the MD's?

lightsaber · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:43 am

dbo861 wrote:
After tomorrow, how many MD80s will remain in AA's fleet?

I 2nd the question.

Airfleets has 81 in the fleet, Wikipedia has 62. I expect the 62 after the 8/23 retirement.

Way down from the about 370 peak count of MD-80s. About 17% of the peak.

Lightsaber

lightsaber · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:46 am

a36001 wrote:
How does retiring 20 aircraft in one day effect the airlines schedule? Does AA have aircraft spare to cover the routes that would have been operated by the MD's?

AA is intentionally down sizing.

There will be flight cuts, I do not know the specifics.

Lightsaber

Sooner787 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:51 am

a36001 wrote:
How does retiring 20 aircraft in one day effect the airlines schedule? Does AA have aircraft spare to cover the routes that would have been operated by the MD's?

I think there are enough LUS narrow body jets to cover for the S80's, that's probably another
reason AA's speeding up the S80 retirements

MSPNWA · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:56 am

dptpa wrote:
Any insight in to the timing of this mass retirement? End of summer travel season perhaps which affords some slack in fleet utilization?

You got it. End of peak summer schedule provides the opportunity. Plenty of slack now for a mass exodus.

commavia · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:57 am

Sooner787 wrote:
I think there are enough LUS narrow body jets to cover for the S80's, that's probably another
reason AA's speeding up the S80 retirements

Not to mention that from this point forward all the new narrowbodies that AA is accepting are larger than the MD80 - by either 20 (737) or 41 (A321) seats. Thus, while AA is removing aircraft, net-net, seats is likely closer to flat if not possibly even up slightly.

hufftheweevil · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:22 am

MSPNWA wrote:
You got it. End of peak summer schedule provides the opportunity. Plenty of slack now for a mass exodus.

Exactly. Also, after several months of no painting, the next E190 is on its way to ROW, as well, for paint. Ship 949 flying as AAL9636

globalcabotage · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:23 am

End of an era. The skies over DFW and ORD will see far less old AA bare metal on Wednesday and fewer each month going forward. DFW will see more 175s and ORD will see more LUS 319s (both starting to appear in future schedules). Fleet now down from 370 to 60ish with a few more leaving this year. Stations like AUS and TPA will no longer see the Mad Dog. DFW, ORD, STL, and RDU will be the last cities with MD80 flights and ORD-DFW is still rumored as the final revenue flight.

dfwjim1 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:54 am

And are all of the aircrews leaving ROW on regularly scheduled passenger flights?

Beatyair · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:55 am

The MD's (140 seats) where replaced by A319's (128 seats) in Calgary. We occasionally get one and sad to see them go, but they are old.

AWACSooner · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:56 am

N5814D wrote:
I'll miss the Mad Dog, rode on that bird plenty of times from KOKC to various destinations...Matter of fact, the last one I took was KDFW-KOKC withthe coolest F/A ever. Had a great conversation about aviation and received free cocktails on a flight so short that there was no proper beverage service.

Just about any flight from OKC to the Metroplex is pretty much this:
*DING* We are leveled off. You can now use your large electronic devices...
2 second later...
*DING* We have begun our initial descent into the Dallas-Fort Worth area, please put away and stow your large electronic devices.

DeltaMD95 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:15 am

Well, this is seriously depressing. Even if expected. I think all we can hope for at this point is that this 8/24 through EOY plans are revised from the previous projections; perhaps buying the type some additional months of service, as rumored. Looking at registration numbers is sad - I've flown on at least 6 or 7 of them. Too bad N403A couldn't beat the cut again. Saw it parked at the gate at ORD less than a week ago. Amazing it has lasted so long.

globalcabotage wrote:
Stations like AUS and TPA will no longer see the Mad Dog. DFW, ORD, STL, and RDU will be the last cities with MD80 flights and ORD-DFW is still rumored as the final revenue flight.

Which is exactly why I booked my Tampa area vacation in August, rather than September. As for AUS, I believe it will continue to see service from ORD but no longer DFW.

TW870 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:32 am

Anyone know how they sequence them to ROW? Do they fly a full schedule on the 22nd, and then instead of RONing and flying a morning trip tomorrow they ferry to ROW? Or do they operate part of a day on the 23rd and then instead of turning out of a station like MSP in the afternoon they operate an inbound and then ferry to ROW? I just wonder because when they switch from summer peak to shoulder season schedule it is usually the mid-day flights that get cut and not the last in first out trips. I would be curious to see how they do the scheduling for this. Overall it is not unusual to go down by this many overall block hours, as we leave peak summer schedule this week.

I feel old tonight because I remember very well when these airplanes took over for the 727s at MSP in the late-80s!

MSPNWA · Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:33 am

The change is easy to see when you compare today's schedule versus tomorrow's on any S80 route. You just can't hide losing 20 frames. Crazy so see routes like DFW-AUS lose the S80 completely. Seems like DFW takes more of a hit - maybe it's just perception - but it's a big change in both hubs.

ytib · Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:41 am

dfwjim1 wrote:
And are all of the aircrews leaving ROW on regularly scheduled passenger flights?

There is a E190 flying in tonight from PHL with 9xxx flight number.

As a note the flights are coming in from all over the US.

http://flightaware.com/live/airport/KROW/enroute

PlanesNTrains · Tue Aug 23, 2016 5:02 am

Sooner787 wrote:
a36001 wrote:
How does retiring 20 aircraft in one day effect the airlines schedule? Does AA have aircraft spare to cover the routes that would have been operated by the MD's?

I think there are enough LUS narrow body jets to cover for the S80's, that's probably another
reason AA's speeding up the S80 retirements

Presumably those LUS narrowbodies have been flying though, so we still should be seeing a decent cutback in scheduling.

claymii · Tue Aug 23, 2016 8:15 am

Does somebody have numbers how much more fuel efficient the new birds are?

DeltaMD95 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:54 pm

And so it begins, Black Tuesday for the Super 80.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL9 ... /KSLC/KROW

surfpunk · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:08 pm

ytib wrote:
dfwjim1 wrote:
And are all of the aircrews leaving ROW on regularly scheduled passenger flights?

There is a E190 flying in tonight from PHL with 9xxx flight number.

As a note the flights are coming in from all over the US.

http://flightaware.com/live/airport/KROW/enroute

Looks like there's going to be about one landing every five minutes, for almost an hour and a half stretch.

Dominion301 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:16 pm

If this were DFW arrivals, this would almost be like the good old days, but today at ROW, :-(

AAL9649 MD83 Salt Lake City Intl (KSLC) Tue 09:50AM MDT Tue 11:20AM MDT
AAL9643 MD83 Tampa Intl (KTPA) Tue 10:16AM EDT Tue 11:26AM MDT
AAL9660 MD83 Chicago O'Hare Intl (KORD) Tue 10:18AM CDT Tue 11:30AM MDT
AAL9647 MD83 Minneapolis/St Paul Intl (KMSP) Tue 10:18AM CDT Tue 11:35AM MDT
AAL9657 MD83 Chicago O'Hare Intl (KORD) Tue 10:03AM CDT Tue 11:38AM MDT
AAL9652 MD82 Ontario Intl (KONT) Tue 09:23AM PDT Tue 11:45AM MDT
AAL9642 MD82 Tampa Intl (KTPA) Tue 10:46AM EDT Tue 11:55AM MDT
AAL9661 MD82 Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl (KPHX) Tue 10:02AM MST Tue 12:00PM MDT
AAL9645 MD82 Raleigh-Durham Intl (KRDU) Tue 10:30AM EDT Tue 12:05PM MDT
AAL9655 MD82 Houston Bush Int'ctl (KIAH) Tue 11:49AM CDT Tue 12:10PM MDT
AAL9648 MD83 Nashville Intl (KBNA) Tue 11:03AM CDT Tue 12:15PM MDT
AAL9650 MD82 Tucson Intl (KTUS) Tue 10:17AM MST Tue 12:20PM MDT
AAL9644 MD82 Pittsburgh Intl (KPIT) Tue 10:58AM EDT Tue 12:23PM MDT
AAL9659 MD83 Philadelphia Intl (KPHL) Tue 10:31AM EDT Tue 12:23PM MDT
AAL9646 MD82 Colorado Sprgs Muni (KCOS) Tue 11:20AM MDT Tue 12:25PM MDT
AAL9658 MD83 Fort Lauderdale Intl (KFLL) Tue 11:28AM EDT Tue 12:30PM MDT
AAL9656 MD83 Dallas-Fort Worth Intl (KDFW) Tue 12:27PM CDT Tue 12:35PM MDT
AAL9651 MD82 McCarran Intl (KLAS) Tue 10:07AM PDT Tue 12:40PM MDT

That would be quite the sight to spot 18 Mad Dogs in a row. The other two are in the 1500-1600 arrival timeframe.

JetBuddy · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:23 pm

Sad news. I've flown the MD-80 on AA once or twice with standby tickets on the ORD-MSY sector back in the 90s. Got upgraded to first class with only one other guy in the first class cabin. Massive black leather seats. Was a great trip, my plastic cup of Coke never got empty because the F/As kept refilling it, and there was so much ice in it I could barely drink it. But that felt like luxury.

whatusaid · Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:53 pm

TW870 wrote:
Anyone know how they sequence them to ROW? Do they fly a full schedule on the 22nd, and then instead of RONing and flying a morning trip tomorrow they ferry to ROW? Or do they operate part of a day on the 23rd and then instead of turning out of a station like MSP in the afternoon they operate an inbound and then ferry to ROW? I just wonder because when they switch from summer peak to shoulder season schedule it is usually the mid-day flights that get cut and not the last in first out trips. I would be curious to see how they do the scheduling for this. Overall it is not unusual to go down by this many overall block hours, as we leave peak summer schedule this week.

I feel old tonight because I remember very well when these airplanes took over for the 727s at MSP in the late-80s!

AA's 6am FAT-DFW left as an MD80 this morning and won't be back. 738's start on today's afternoon flight and are on the morning flight starting tomorrow.

Sooner787 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:01 pm

claymii wrote:
Does somebody have numbers how much more fuel efficient the new birds are?

IIRC, the new 738's burn 33% less fuel that the S80's they're replacing.

I imagine the A32x family would have similiar numbers

Sooner787 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:02 pm

DeltaMD95 wrote:
And so it begins, Black Tuesday for the Super 80.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL9 ... /KSLC/KROW

Those ATC guys / gals at ROW are going to be busy today

william · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:07 pm

Personally, the MD80 was the last visible stamp of former CEO Bob Crandall. He got one heck of a deal from Mickey D on those MD80s. Which led to AA's meteoric rise in the 80s.

Those MD80s have flown me and my family safely around the country for over 25 years. Will personally miss them.

william · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:08 pm

claymii wrote:
Does somebody have numbers how much more fuel efficient the new birds are?

From Wikipedia-

Due to the use of the aging JT8D engines, the MD-80 is not fuel efficient compared to the A320 or newer 737 models; it burns 1,050 US gal (4,000 l) of jet fuel per hour on a typical flight, while the larger Boeing 737-800 burns 850 US gal (3,200 l) per hour (19% reduction).

727LOVER · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:14 pm

Does TPA receive any more today....or did the final one fly out to ROW this morning?

Sooner787 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:19 pm

I flew a S80 from Vegas to DFW last summer.
I remember the brakes squealing as we taxied
away from the gate , the very long takeoff roll,
the shallow climb out, but mostly I'll remember
the comfortable ride and the amazing view from seat
12A with no wing to obstruct the view.

ckfred · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:44 pm

A slightly off-topic observation. I flew ORD-DEN-ORD last month, MD-80s both ways. It seems to me that on both landings, the pilots didn't use reverse thrust. Are pilots going easy with reverse thrust on landings, to save wear and tear on the engines? I seem to recall the same thing with the F100s, as they started the retirement draw down.

727LOVER · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:48 pm

727LOVER wrote:
Does TPA receive any more today....or did the final one fly out to ROW this morning?

Never mind....answered

Dominion301 wrote:
If this were DFW arrivals, this would almost be like the good old days, but today at ROW,

AAL9643 MD83 Tampa Intl (KTPA) Tue 10:16AM EDT Tue 11:26AM MDT?

ckfred · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:53 pm

Here's my dumb question. How are they going to get all of the pilots back, presumably to DFW? Twenty airplanes means 40 pilots. Considering that service between ROW and DFW is all Embrear 135s and 145s, that's a lot of seats needed, just to deadhead crews back to DFW.

Sooner787 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:55 pm

ckfred wrote:
Here's my dumb question. How are they going to get all of the pilots back, presumably to DFW? Twenty airplanes means 40 pilots. Considering that service between ROW and DFW is all Embrear 135s and 145s, that's a lot of seats needed, just to deadhead crews back to DFW.

It would be great if another S80 hauled them all back to DFW

727LOVER · Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:06 pm

In Florida, I found 1 @ PNS and 4 @ JAX...that's all I can seem to find in Florida. Good luck spotting @ JAX

I'll be in ATL in early November, I see only 1 scheduled there at that time.

Spacepope · Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:14 pm

And they're starting the migration. The first one due in to ROW is flying in from MSP: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL9 ... /KMSP/KROW

Sooner787 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:38 pm

Spacepope wrote:
And they're starting the migration. The first one due in to ROW is flying in from MSP: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL9 ... /KMSP/KROW

What are the odds all 20 jets make it to ROW today without any mechanical glitches ?

JAAlbert · Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:42 pm

I too want to know how the flight crews get home after parking the MD80s.

Also, does AA go through the aircraft and remove the magazines, safety cards and other such items before sending the plane off to storage? Do they clean up the interor or send it out with whatever the last passengers left behind?

dptpa · Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:47 pm

ckfred wrote:
Here's my dumb question. How are they going to get all of the pilots back, presumably to DFW? Twenty airplanes means 40 pilots. Considering that service between ROW and DFW is all Embrear 135s and 145s, that's a lot of seats needed, just to deadhead crews back to DFW.

I was asking myself the exact same thing. I'm a controller at ORD and just worked N570AA operating as AAL9660 out. I asked the pilots and they said they would all head back to DFW on scheduled ENY flights. I suppose they are blocking a certain amount of seats on each flight to get them home?

dfwjim1 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:07 pm

Dominion301 wrote:
If this were DFW arrivals, this would almost be like the good old days, but today at ROW,

AAL9649 MD83 Salt Lake City Intl (KSLC) Tue 09:50AM MDT Tue 11:20AM MDT
AAL9643 MD83 Tampa Intl (KTPA) Tue 10:16AM EDT Tue 11:26AM MDT
AAL9660 MD83 Chicago O'Hare Intl (KORD) Tue 10:18AM CDT Tue 11:30AM MDT
AAL9647 MD83 Minneapolis/St Paul Intl (KMSP) Tue 10:18AM CDT Tue 11:35AM MDT
AAL9657 MD83 Chicago O'Hare Intl (KORD) Tue 10:03AM CDT Tue 11:38AM MDT
AAL9652 MD82 Ontario Intl (KONT) Tue 09:23AM PDT Tue 11:45AM MDT
AAL9642 MD82 Tampa Intl (KTPA) Tue 10:46AM EDT Tue 11:55AM MDT
AAL9661 MD82 Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl (KPHX) Tue 10:02AM MST Tue 12:00PM MDT
AAL9645 MD82 Raleigh-Durham Intl (KRDU) Tue 10:30AM EDT Tue 12:05PM MDT
AAL9655 MD82 Houston Bush Int'ctl (KIAH) Tue 11:49AM CDT Tue 12:10PM MDT
AAL9648 MD83 Nashville Intl (KBNA) Tue 11:03AM CDT Tue 12:15PM MDT
AAL9650 MD82 Tucson Intl (KTUS) Tue 10:17AM MST Tue 12:20PM MDT
AAL9644 MD82 Pittsburgh Intl (KPIT) Tue 10:58AM EDT Tue 12:23PM MDT
AAL9659 MD83 Philadelphia Intl (KPHL) Tue 10:31AM EDT Tue 12:23PM MDT
AAL9646 MD82 Colorado Sprgs Muni (KCOS) Tue 11:20AM MDT Tue 12:25PM MDT
AAL9658 MD83 Fort Lauderdale Intl (KFLL) Tue 11:28AM EDT Tue 12:30PM MDT
AAL9656 MD83 Dallas-Fort Worth Intl (KDFW) Tue 12:27PM CDT Tue 12:35PM MDT
AAL9651 MD82 McCarran Intl (KLAS) Tue 10:07AM PDT Tue 12:40PM MDT

That would be quite the sight to spot 18 Mad Dogs in a row. The other two are in the 1500-1600 arrival timeframe.

A MD83 coming from FLL ?!?

jco613 · Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:12 pm

So I just happened to be at FLL today to spot...and I totally blew it:

Arrived at the South Side 10R spotting area to hear "Ops 5 we need to reposition for a water cannon salute for a retiring pilot"

Then I looked up the flight and realized it was a Super 80. I figured I should just stay there even though they were taking off on 10L. The water cannon salute happened BEHIND the fire station and I got some blurry shots on my iPad of the plane taking off. Likely the last Super 80 ever at FLL. My question is, why FLL? Did the pilots (assuming they are all retiring as well) choose their airport? FLL does not normally see Super 80s, so it was shocking to me.

The Super 80 was a horrible plane as a passenger, but there is something about the bare metal shine on a sunny day that is just intoxicating.

Oh, and I left after that figuring my luck had run out. As I drove home, DL brought a rare August 767 in followed by Envoy's weekly flight from Guantanamo. Oh well.

FriscoHeavy · Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:15 pm

Wow, that is a lot of arrivals in a 1:20 period.

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