23. In 1977, this U.S. based air carrier announced its intention to acquire four new McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft which would have been a new type in their fleet. However, these MD-80s were never delivered to the airline in question. Identify this air carrier.
I still have Hughes Airwest on the brain, having answered LAX-SDF-BNA by Hughes Airwest and also answered the Super Banana. Since Hughes Airwest wasn't the answer, I'll go with their brother, Southern Airways, who merged with North Central around 1980 and, soon afterwards, acquired Hughes Airwest.
The DC-9-80 wasn't delivered to Southern because the airline already merged by the time the plane was ready and also because of a labor dispute with pilots. Not sure of all the details. The DC-9-80 order is foggy in my mind so it's possible that the letter of intent for 4 DC-9-80's was another carrier, like North Central but my answer is....
Southern Airways