I have no news, but does anyone have any new information regarding the last routes and possibly last flight date and route? I remember reading that they would be gone by February, but I do not know what the plan is at this point.

Somewhere in the last week I read that Pratt is withdrawing support for the JT8D model engines used on the MD 82 & 83's..and thus, supposedly, AA is now on some sort of an accelerated schedule to be done with them. Exactly what that is I do not know, but the general gist of what I read was by the end of the year (2017)

Do they have enough new aircraft coming to replace one on one? Or will they fly them thru the Christmas/ New Yeras season, and send them all to Roswell in January? That makes sense, as there are some reductions in domestic flying in the first 2 or 3 months of the year. Business is usually a tad slower and overall vacation or F & F traffic is reduced.

Tan Flyr wrote:

Somewhere in the last week I read that Pratt is withdrawing support for the JT8D model engines used on the MD 82 & 83's..and thus, supposedly, AA is now on some sort of an accelerated schedule to be done with them. Exactly what that is I do not know, but the general gist of what I read was by the end of the year (2017)

Do they have enough new aircraft coming to replace one on one? Or will they fly them thru the Christmas/ New Yeras season, and send them all to Roswell in January? That makes sense, as there are some reductions in domestic flying in the first 2 or 3 months of the year. Business is usually a tad slower and overall vacation or F & F traffic is reduced.

Pratt withdrew support at the end of 2014. Airlines must pay for that support and AA cancelled in 2013 right after DL renewed.

It has been pay as you go since then. Maybe the last support engineers retired and there is no more as you go support?

Lightsaber

The AA fleet plan (as updated last month) still shows 42 at the end of the year.

MO11 wrote:

The AA fleet plan (as updated last month) still shows 42 at the end of the year.

I'm impressed at how that number has increased from zero.

I missed the nuance that only belly tanks required innerting....

Lightsaber

Why are they taking so long to retire the MD-80s? Gotta get those newer, fuel-efficient 737's in the fleet!

Short of a fuel price spike, a couple dozen will be with AA until 1Q2019.

ADrum23 wrote:

Why are they taking so long to retire the MD-80s? Gotta get those newer, fuel-efficient 737's in the fleet!

The MD80's are the buffer if regional feed can be covered.

Considering how many Super 80s AA has retired in recent years, they should have plenty of spare engines in Roswell should the need arise. They can probably limp along with retired aircraft's parts without worrying too much about an extended service agreement with P&W.

panam330 wrote:

Short of a fuel price spike, a couple dozen will be with AA until 1Q2019.

Harvey is giving us one

KICT wrote:

Considering how many Super 80s AA has retired in recent years, they should have plenty of spare engines in Roswell should the need arise. They can probably limp along with retired aircraft's parts without worrying too much about an extended service agreement with P&W.

You can have a spare but you need an engineer that knows it inside out to know that the spare will last or do the job

ADrum23 wrote:

Why are they taking so long to retire the MD-80s? Gotta get those newer, fuel-efficient 737's in the fleet!

Welcome to a.net, new user.
A "newer, fuel-efficient 737" is a $40 million investment.
$40 million will buy a LOT of fuel for an MD-80.
Yes, it's time for them to fly west, but there's little reason to rush things.

The lack of any ownership costs on the MD-80 make it really attractive to operate still even though it may be less efficient from a fuel burn perspective. They're going to remain in the fleet for a little bit longer than most anticipated; I wouldn't be surprised to see a small amount remain in the fleet as late as 2019.

Quick question... When was the first American MD-80 retired? With such a large fleet it seems like the drawdown has taken a long time since it began.

ADrum23 wrote:

Why are they taking so long to retire the MD-80s? Gotta get those newer, fuel-efficient 737's in the fleet!

Because the MD-80 fleet was huge at one point. Look how large it was 10-12 years ago, 360 MD-80s! At that time LGA, DFW, ORD and STL were MD-80 heaven, especially DFW. It takes years to phase out such a large fleet. The MD-80 fleet has shrinked a lot.

Northwest1988 wrote:

Quick question... When was the first American MD-80 retired? With such a large fleet it seems like the drawdown has taken a long time since it began.

I believe that the MD-80 phase out began in 2008 or 2009, around that time. It was right at that time American decided to buy more 737s to be added to the initial fleet of 75 they had since the early 2000s. And a couple of years later came the huge narrowbody order to be split half Airbus (A319 and A321) and half Boeing (737-800).

Northwest1988 wrote:

Quick question... When was the first American MD-80 retired? With such a large fleet it seems like the drawdown has taken a long time since it began.

There are a lot of qualifiers; if you discount Reno Air lease returns, and some TWA lease returns, there was a TWA airplane that was retired in December 2005 with 63000 hours. There also was a group of early American airplanes that were retired in April 2006, which had between 60000 and 70000 hours.

Remember the flow of 737-800s was halted between 2001 and 2009, and the use of "large" regional jets was restricted.

Northwest1988 wrote:

Quick question... When was the first American MD-80 retired? With such a large fleet it seems like the drawdown has taken a long time since it began.

This excludes the Reno Air fleet.

AA had 260 MD-80s, one was lost @ LIT in 1999, so that brings us to 259. There were 103 acquired from TWA, so that brings it to 362. This would have been early 2001. So after 9/11, it is my understanding that some of TWA's early birds were dumped. My question is...did every TWA aircraft get AA paint?

Also remember, this is the largest fleet retirement in history It will be eclipsed by WN -700s & I believe Ryanair's 738s.

American Airlines sent N513AA to Roswell this morning. The aircraft was delivered in August of 1990.
SOURCE: https://twitter.com/TheAviationBeat/sta ... 7445571584

American 767 wrote:

ADrum23 wrote:

Why are they taking so long to retire the MD-80s? Gotta get those newer, fuel-efficient 737's in the fleet!

Because the MD-80 fleet was huge at one point. Look how large it was 10-12 years ago, 360 MD-80s! At that time LGA, DFW, ORD and STL were MD-80 heaven, especially DFW. It takes years to phase out such a large fleet. The MD-80 fleet has shrinked a lot.

Northwest1988 wrote:

Quick question... When was the first American MD-80 retired? With such a large fleet it seems like the drawdown has taken a long time since it began.

I believe that the MD-80 phase out began in 2008 or 2009, around that time. It was right at that time American decided to buy more 737s to be added to the initial fleet of 75 they had since the early 2000s. And a couple of years later came the huge narrowbody order to be split half Airbus (A319 and A321) and half Boeing (737-800).

Crazy to think back then the "only" 737s AA/DL operated were the 738s that replaced the 727s give or take.

Had a flight on the MD83 last year on AA, fun to fly those birds.

727LOVER wrote:

AA had 260 MD-80s, one was lost @ LIT in 1999, so that brings us to 259. There were 103 acquired from TWA, so that brings it to 362. This would have been early 2001. So after 9/11, it is my understanding that some of TWA's early birds were dumped.

No, too early - AA was getting rid of 727s and Fokker 100s after 9/11.

727LOVER wrote:

My question is...did every TWA aircraft get AA paint?

MD-80s, 757s, yes. Boeing 717s & 767s, no. The DC-9-30s were gone before TWA Airlines LLC merged with American.

[threeid][/threeid]

727LOVER wrote:

Northwest1988 wrote:

Quick question... When was the first American MD-80 retired? With such a large fleet it seems like the drawdown has taken a long time since it began.

This excludes the Reno Air fleet.

AA had 260 MD-80s, one was lost @ LIT in 1999, so that brings us to 259. There were 103 acquired from TWA, so that brings it to 362. This would have been early 2001. So after 9/11, it is my understanding that some of TWA's early birds were dumped. My question is...did every TWA aircraft get AA paint?

Also remember, this is the largest fleet retirement in history It will be eclipsed by WN -700s & I believe Ryanair's 738s.

Didn't AA retire an MD-80 after a maintainance mishap around 2005?

MO11 wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

My question is...did every TWA aircraft get AA paint?

MD-80s, 757s, yes. Boeing 717s & 767s, no. The DC-9-30s were gone before TWA Airlines LLC merged with American.

The 717s didn't get repainted, but at least a couple of them were delivered in AA paint with TWA titles:

KICT wrote:

Considering how many Super 80s AA has retired in recent years, they should have plenty of spare engines in Roswell should the need arise. They can probably limp along with retired aircraft's parts without worrying too much about an extended service agreement with P&W.

Actually they don't have many spare engines sitting around in Roswell. DL has been buying the AA engines and using the life limited parts that are still good to keep the the DL fleet flying. By now AA should be down to mostly leased power by the hour engines for their spares. That is usually what happens as a fleet gets retired. You don't want to spend a $1 million on a full engine overhaul when the plane gets parked in a few months.

EXMEMWIDGET wrote:

[threeid][/threeid]

727LOVER wrote:

Northwest1988 wrote:

Quick question... When was the first American MD-80 retired? With such a large fleet it seems like the drawdown has taken a long time since it began.

This excludes the Reno Air fleet.

AA had 260 MD-80s, one was lost @ LIT in 1999, so that brings us to 259. There were 103 acquired from TWA, so that brings it to 362. This would have been early 2001. So after 9/11, it is my understanding that some of TWA's early birds were dumped. My question is...did every TWA aircraft get AA paint?

Also remember, this is the largest fleet retirement in history It will be eclipsed by WN -700s & I believe Ryanair's 738s.

Didn't AA retire an MD-80 after a maintainance mishap around 2005?

There was a temp grounding due to certain wiring routed thru wings incorrectly (according to FAA inspectors) with potential for shorting and fire about then....don't recall any one particular plane being singled out, tho' the phase-out of the very oldest ones had begun. Personally, I think our techs and mechanics had forgotten more about '80's (and other metal in the fleet) than the FAA folks ever knew, but ya gotta be in compliance.

The latest fleet plan released last week shows that 45 MD80s will be in the fleet at year-end. The 2018 fleet plan should be released in January.

Click on IR Update - October 10, 2017 and the .pdf will launch. The fleet plan is on page 4.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zht ... sentations

spyglass wrote:

EXMEMWIDGET wrote:

Didn't AA retire an MD-80 after a maintainance mishap around 2005?

There was a temp grounding due to certain wiring routed thru wings incorrectly (according to FAA inspectors) with potential for shorting and fire about then....don't recall any one particular plane being singled out, tho' the phase-out of the very oldest ones had begun. Personally, I think our techs and mechanics had forgotten more about '80's (and other metal in the fleet) than the FAA folks ever knew, but ya gotta be in compliance.

I believe the incident in question was from 2012. N110HM was written off after the fuselage was penetrated by a tail jack.

I'll enjoy seeing the S80's around a little longer so we can enjoy the clAAsic livery just a little bit longer

BAeRJ100 wrote:

spyglass wrote:

EXMEMWIDGET wrote:

Didn't AA retire an MD-80 after a maintainance mishap around 2005?

There was a temp grounding due to certain wiring routed thru wings incorrectly (according to FAA inspectors) with potential for shorting and fire about then....don't recall any one particular plane being singled out, tho' the phase-out of the very oldest ones had begun. Personally, I think our techs and mechanics had forgotten more about '80's (and other metal in the fleet) than the FAA folks ever knew, but ya gotta be in compliance.

I believe the incident in question was from 2012. N110HM was written off after the fuselage was penetrated by a tail jack.

Ouch, that had to be rough! Did anyone get hurt?

It was stated in the AA painted aircraft thread that internally the MD80 is on the active schedule up to December 2019.

That’s a nice little reprieve for a fleet that was widely to believed would be retired by now.