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PICTURES: Allegiant bids farewell to MD-80s after 16 years
Allegiant Air will soon say farewell to its Boeing MD-80 fleet after a run of 16 years,
concluding a fleet transition that began six years ago when the airline added its first Airbus A319s.
Now down to fewer than two dozen MD-80s, the Las Vegas-based ultra low-cost carrier will put the MD-80s to work one last time during the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel season before they exit the fleet. The bulk of the MD-80s will be parted out, says the airline.
It will operate its final MD-80 flight on 28 November, flying from Las Vegas to Fresno and then back to Las Vegas.
The pace of A320 family deals allowed the carrier to accelerate the retirement of its MD-80s to this year,
instead of end-2019 as previously planned.
Allegiant's remaining MD-80s have an average age of just under 29 years,
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... -16-453385The airline says it is withdrawing the MD-80s before the next travel peak in Christmas,
to ensure that pilots get through the training pipeline in time
to operate the A320 family aircraft for the spring travel season beginning in March 2019.
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