Delta Air Lines initially placed a large order for the McDonnell Douglas MD-90. However, the merger of McDonnell Douglas with Boeing in 1997 ended the program, with Delta only receiving 16 new ...

Delta Air Lines is accelerating the retirement of its Boeing MD-90 fleet, hastening the exit of the former McDonnell Douglas narrowbodies from US fleets.

But on Tuesday, two more McDonnell Douglas aircraft, the MD-88 and MD-90, will leave the commercial U.S. passenger fleet as Delta operates its final flights for both.

For McDonnell Douglas, meanwhile, the program never made any money, and with cash flow issues as well as the failure of the MD-90, the company did not stick around much longer.

The MD-90 removal last week was the first reduction to Delta's fleet of former McDonnell Douglas twin-jets since it wrote off an MD-88 (MSN 49540) following a runway excursion in March 2015.

By the time Boeing took an interest in its competitor, McDonnell Douglas was only developing four planes, the MD-80, MD-90, MD-95, and MD-11.

Ladies and gentlemen, the McDonnell Douglas aircraft have left the air. Thank you. Yeah, they were as iconic as Elvis Presley. The MD-88 and MD-90 planes hold a revered place in aviation history and, ...

Delta retired the last of its McDonnell Douglas aircraft Tuesday after carrying more than 750 million passengers on MD-88 and MD-90 aircraft. The last MD-88 flight, appropriately named Delta ...

Delta Air Lines is advancing the retirement date of its McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series aircraft to June 2. The Long Beach, California-built jets joined the Delta fleet in 1987 and also flew for ...

But as new segments emerged, such as twin-aisle twinjets, Douglas’ coverage further deteriorated. Also, it lost single-aisle bandwidth as the MD-90 failed as a broader family.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has been replacing its MD-80s with new 737s from Boeing, and will retire the last of its McDonnell Douglas jets by the end of August.

Delta Airline’s workhouse McDonnell Douglas MD-88 aircraft will receive a water arch salute when it makes its final departure from Sarasota Bradenton International Airport at 7 a.m. Tuesday.