American Airlines, a major US airline, has announced phasing out its McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft, also known as the Super 80. The last 26 MD-80 is scheduled to fly on 4 September, 2019.

The airline not only revealed the schedule of the final revenue flights on the “Mad Dog” before their desert farewell ferry flights to Roswell, New Mexico (ROW), but also said that the last flight would be special.

The final flight, Flight 80, will leave the carrier’s main base at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas for Chicago O’Hare International Airport on September 4.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 “was the workhorse of the airline’s fleet throughout the 1980s and beyond”. However, American calls it “a bittersweet but well-earned retirement as the airline celebrates the aircraft’s history while modernizing its fleet”.