100 YEARS OF DELTA AIR LINES
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD-90 ( 1995-2020 )
Delta was the launch customer for the McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 in November 1989 , placing an order for 50 aircraft and optioning 110 . The first of them , Ship 9202 , arrived on February 24 , 1995 . Delta initially purchased the MD-90s to replace its Boeing 727s but , when Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997 , Delta cancelled the rest of its MD-90 order and began buying the Boeing 737-800 . On June 2 , 2020 , Delta put to an end its MD-90 operations with the aptly numbered flight DL90 , which arrived in Atlanta from Houston .
MICHAEL CARTER
BOEING 737-800 ( 1998-PRESENT )
Delta placed the 737-800 into service on November 24 , 1998 . Ship 3703 ( N373DA ) operated flight DL1925 from Atlanta to Charlotte , North Carolina . On April 4 , 1999 , the aircraft type saw its first international services : Atlanta to Caracas , Venezuela , and Guatemala . In January 2024 , Delta announced plans to upgrade the cabins of its 737- 800s to match the specs and features of its Airbus A321neos .
BEN WANG
BOEING 777 ( 1999-2020 )
AERO ICARUS
Delta welcomed its first two Boeing 777s in March 1999 . Both the aircraft went into scheduled service on May 1 , 1999 , with Ship 7001 taking off first from Atlanta to London-Gatwick . Delta was the first US carrier to take delivery of the Boeing 777- 200LR , the world ’ s longest-range commercial airplane , in 2008 . With this new plane , Delta bolstered its international expansion , gaining the ability to connect virtually any two cities around the globe nonstop , including Atlanta- Johannesburg , Los Angeles-Sydney , and other extremely long-haul routes . However , plagued by schedule and cost reductions during the COVID-19 pandemic , Delta decided to retire the 777 by the end of 2020 . The final flights were DL8787 from Atlanta to Los Angeles on October 30 , 2020 , and DL8777 from New York-JFK to Los Angeles on October 31 , 2020 .
22 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE APRIL 2025 www . airwaysmag . com