US major Delta Air Lines will celebrate the end of an era in early 2014 as it operates the final commercial passenger services with its Douglas DC-9 fleet after almost 50 years service. The carrier was the launch customer for the original 65-seat version of the DC-9 in 1965 as it introduced the type to replace propeller aircraft on high-frequency, short-haul domestic routes.

The DC-9 has been a stalwart of the Delta domestic fleet and a total of 305 aircraft have served with the carrier through the last six decades. But, on January 6, 2014 Delta’s last passenger flight of the type will take place on its route between Atlanta and Minneapolis/St Paul. The outbound flight will be specially designated flight ‘DL1965’ with the return operating as ‘DL2014’. This will be the last scheduled commercial flight of the DC-9 by a major US airline.

"The DC-9 has been a workhorse in our domestic fleet while providing a reliable customer experience," said Nat Pieper, vice president – Fleet Strategy, Delta Air Lines. “The aircraft's retirement paves the way for newer, more efficient aircraft.”

Since 2008, Delta has removed or retired more than 350 aircraft from its fleet including 50-seat CRJ-200s; Saab 340s and DC-9s; while adding economically efficient, proven-technology aircraft such as the Boeing 777-200LR; two-class, 65 and 76-seat regional jets and variants of the 737 and 717, largely on a capacity-neutral basis.

The DC-9 retirement comes just months after Delta began taking delivery of its orders of 88 Boeing 717-200 aircraft and 100 Boeing 737-900ER aircraft, which began entering service in October and November, respectively. Delta also recently announced its order for 40 Airbus aircraft including 30 narrowbody A321s, which will begin to be delivered in 2016.

This actually is the second occasion Delta has retired the DC-9 from its fleet. The airline initially removed the twin-engine jet in 1993, but larger variants returned to service following its merger with Northwest Airlines; those aircraft had joined the Northwest fleet after it acquired Republic Airlines in 1986.

Although the special ‘DL2014’ flight from Minneapolis/St Paul to Atlanta will be Delta’s last with the type, the DC-9 will actually serve a number of US destinations on its final day of operations with the following flights all currently scheduled to be operated using DC-9 equipment on January 6, 2014…

Savannah – Atlanta DL354 SAV0530 – 0638ATL
Augusta – Atlanta DL302 AGS0700 – 0810ATL
Atlanta – Chicago DL2012 ATL0725 – 0828ORD
Greensboro – Atlanta DL1193 GSO0830 – 1001ATL
Birmingham – Atlanta DL2481 BHM0800 – 1008ATL
Chicago O’Hare – Detroit DL1813 ORD0908 – 1129DTW
Charlotte – Atlanta DL2251 CLE1110 – 1219ATL
Detroit – Minneapolis DL1965 DTW1215 – 1315MSP
Nashville – Atlanta DL8804 BNA1200 – 1414ATL
Cleveland – Atlanta DL1474 CLE1310 – 1503ATL
Huntsville – Atlanta DL973 HSV1335 – 1535ATL
Little Rock – Atlanta DL367 LIT1320 – 1551ATL
Baton Rouge – Atlanta DL2480 BTR1529 – 1753ATL
Louisville – Atlanta DL2184 SDF1659 – 1826ATL
Minneapolis – Atlanta DL2014 MSP1620 – 1946ATL