Just over a week ago I had the chance to participate in the retirement of the American Airlines MD-80 at a celebration in Roswell, New Mexico. Taxiing past the rows of retired airplanes, we arrived at a hangar where we got to hear stories…
American Airlines retired the last of their MD-80 aircraft this week. You might be wondering why that’s significant. Heck, for you it might not be. For me, it represents well over 500 hours of time in the air. The Mad Dog and I grew old together in the sky. For one of us, that journey has come to an end.
It also gets a bit more contemporary. American Airlines is actually scheduled to shrink the size of the fleet slightly (30 planes out of the mainline fleet of close to 1,000) but is shrinking it in the right areas while adding strategic aircraft for…