Delta DC-9 aircraft makes final flight

Delta Airlines last night retired its last DC-9s, the last of the major U.S. airlines to do so.

The final flight, named DL2014 for its final year or service, departed Minneapolis/St. Paul at 4:20 p.m. yesterday and arrived in Atlanta around 7 p.m.

Delta employees, customers, and aviation enthusiasts celebrated the final regularly scheduled flight at an event in Minneapolis.

The DC-9 won't completely disappear just yet. Delta will keep two DC-9 aircraft as spares for a few weeks as it continues to accept delivery of Boeing 717 aircraft, the airline wrote to employees.

The airline also pointed out that since 2008, it has removed or retired more than 350 aircraft from its fleet, such as the 50-seat CRJ-200s and Saab 340s.

At the same time, it's adding aircraft. Delta has started taking delivery of 88 Boeing 717-200 planes and 100 Boeing 737-900ER aircraft. They began flying in October and November, respectively.

Delta has also ordered 40 Airbus aircraft including 30 narrowbody A321s. Deliveries will begin in 2016.

Some of the planes the carrier is adding to its fleet are not entirely new. It purchased its Boeing 717s from AirTran, the Associated Press reports. The airline plans to refurbish the interiors and add Wi-Fi.

The carrier was the launch customer of the original 65-seat version of the DC-9 in 1965. The aircraft replaced the propeller planes that Delta had been using on its short-haul domestic routes.

The planes were retired in 1993, but larger versions returned in 2008 when Delta merged with Northwest Airlines. Northwest had inherited DC-9s after its acquisition of Republic Airlines in 1986.

Most airlines retired DC-9s by the 1990s, but Northwest refurbished the interiors to keep them in use longer, the AP reports.

The DC-9 that was flown last night was built in 1978 and was first used by North Central Airlines, which combined with other airlines to form Republic Airlines, the AP r eported.                              

Delta's DC-9 chief line check pilot Scott Woolfrey, who asked to pilot Monday night's flight, told the AP that the DC-9 does not have a flight management computer to handle routine tasks like new planes do.

"It's a pilot's airplane," he said before the flight on Monday.