Delta operates final MD-88 flight amid tough times for airlines
Delta Air Lines final McDonnell Douglas MD-88 flight departed from Washington Dulles on a gray Tuesday morning amid the worst crisis the industry has ever faced.
The flight, fittingly DL88, received a water-canon salute after pushing back from the gate at Dulles (IAD) at 8:20 a.m. local time for its scheduled 1-hour, 14-minute flight to Delta’s Atlanta (ATL) base. The MD-88, registration N900DE, was one of seven inbound MD-88 flights operating to Atlanta on Tuesday morning. DL88 was the last of those to depart.
“It’s a sad moment,” Delta captain Jim Hamilton, who piloted DL88, told TPG prior to the departure. “The aircraft never let me down in 27 years.”
On the same morning, Delta operated its last McDonnell Douglas MD-90 flight, DL90, from Houston Bush Intercontinental (IAH) to Atlanta.
Both the MD-88s and MD-90s were due to fly on to Blytheville, Arkansas (BYH), for storage later on Tuesday.
The retirements of the “Mad Dog,” as the jets are colloquially known, is …