readywhenyouare

Delta had plenty of experience with DC-9/MD-80 maintenance. Delta was the launch customer of the DC-9 in 1965. It's utter nonsense to think that the maintenance knowledge came over from NWA.

PHXflier

Note that two of the MD90s that Delta got in 1995 (N902DA and N903DA) have been flown to storage in BYH in the past month or two. Not sure that the MD90s are going to be with Delta as long as the MD88s, the oldest of which are now flying for Delta for over 30 years.

danielonn

I think Delta should offer free tablets for IFE in First Class and Comfort+ on planes without PTVs like Alaska does.

audidudi

N958DN is currently en route from ATL>MZJ for storage presumably.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N958DN

MCO Flyer

It may sound strange but I actually I like the MD-88 better than the MD-90. IME the MD-88s I have been on tend to be in better shape than some of the 90s I have been on. The 90s have slimlines in Y were the MD-88s have the older well padded seats in Y which I actually find comfortable.

MarkCron

Man I hated the DC9's. About every other flight on a DC9, during descent I would get these incredibly painful sinus pressure headaches above and around my eye through my temple. Felt like my eyes were getting pierced
Always though there was some kind of pressurization issues, but maybe it was just me.

bergamini

I never ask why DL (or PMNW) is the "only airline to fly [insert plane here]". That's just part of their business model. I like the MD90 better than the MD88 but only because I've had 3 major maintenance delays this year on the 88's.

ND76

Supposedly they work better at high altitude airports such as SLC than the MD88.

When Delta bought these places from MD, circa mid-90s, they actually were equipped with overhead monitors (located in the overseat panels) and could show movies. I remember a flight we took on one of them, DCA-DFW; my wife, daughter and I were the only ones sitting in F on this segment, and we had a grand old time.

A couple of years ago, Delta was trying to buy everyone of them that were in operation (Shanghai Air?).

I flew on an MD90 operated by Blue1 in 2011 EDI-HEL; the creepiest FAs I've ever encountered were on that flight (a man I called Kommandant Klink stared pruriently at each passenger's lap to make sure they had buckled his or her seatbelt).

3Cforme

Northwest was still operating about 65 DC-9s at the time of the merger. The 49 used MD-90s Delta acquired from a number of operators replaced them by seat count, at a quarter of the capital cost of new jets, said Anderson at the time, assuming he meant 738s or 320s.

vincentharris

I wish they flew more MD-90's and 717's personally those are my favorite (except of course the 747)

2/3 seating is great and I like the MD-90 F seats super old but cushy. I can't stand 737s, a320s, a321s etc.

BenA

They're moving in this direction with the C-series. That aircraft is going to be delivered (if it does get delivered, given the sanctions) with commercial tablets in the headrests serving as the IFE system while connected to onboard Wi-Fi.

I don't think they'll be removable - it's more about saving weight from wiring and minimizing certification and installation time. But if it's a successful approach, I could easily see them deploying it on the older non-IFE equipped planes - especially ones that will be around for a while like the 717.

Dawgfan6291

that is not remotely true.
Fuel consumption is right there with the A320.

The only big ticket item DL does in-house in the MD90s is the landing. Engines, APUs and heavy checks are sent to vendors. Heaviest work in-house is the c-check and on a MD that isn't as much work compared to a 320 or 737.

That questionable, at best.

Lol, I'm sorry what?

Few notes, after the AMFA strike the vast majority of work NW did was line maintenance and mechanics to sign paper work from an airplane/engine or component coming back from a vendor. The "mechanics that knew the DC9 well" had mostly been fired when NW shut down the DC9 maintenance center in ATL and shipped the work out to the lowest bidder.

On top of all of the, DL and DL TechOps have been working on DC9s, MD80s and MD90s long before the DL/NW merger was even thought of. The MD90 was a very buggy airplane and if hadn't been for DL figuring out ways to work the bugs out then they never would have kept the 16 original fleet, much less expanded the fleet so much.

Finally, the MD90 shares very very very little with the DC9. All the major components, i.e. engines, landing gear, APU and very most of the LRUs are completely different than anything seen on the DC9 and the little JT8s. The V2500 isn't anything like the little JT8s either.



Having said all of that, because of engine maintenance costs for the V2500-D5 model and lack of vendors on the market, the MD90 fleet is going to slowly be phased out. First one is being parked this year, IIRC. Two were (are? not sure if they are till there or not.) at BYH waiting for engines to come out of New Zealand.

live5

Very interesting -- I hadn't heard about this. Definitely not opposed to it but also seems like the experience could be less than stellar. I found it frustrating that they didn't put PTVs on the 717s when they renovated them for entry into service with Delta. There are quite a few 2+ hour flights that Delta operates these planes on.