What it was like on the last fights of Delta's iconic McDonnell Douglas 'Mad Dog' jets which were just sent to an early retirement after 33 years in the sky

Thomas Pallini/Business Insider

• Delta Air Lines retired its final eight McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and MD-90 aircraft on Tuesday.
• After flying their final flights to Atlanta, the "Mad Dogs" were sent to an aircraft graveyard Blytheville, Arkansas for storage.
• The retirement ends a 33-year era for Delta, which first took delivery of the McDonnell Douglas planes in 1987.

Delta Air Lines just ended a 33-year era as another fleet of aircraft was sent off for retirement.

The financial difficulty brought on by the coronavirus have spurred nearly every business to re-evaluate their operations and weed out any inefficiencies. Some airlines are realizing that they now have too many aircraft and are leaning their fleets accordingly, which have seen the advanced retirement of older aircraft.

For Delta, America's second-largest airline, that meant saying goodbye to its oldest fleet type, the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and MD-90 series aircraft, also known as "Mad Dogs." On June 2, the final few Long Beach, California-built aircraft transported their last passengers from across the country to Atlanta before being sent to an aircraft graveyard in Arkansas.

A true workhorse of any fleet it was in, the first MD-80 series aircraft joined the Delta fleet in 1987 and was an integral part of the airline's operation for over three decades. Now, it will be phased out to make way for newer aircraft as part of a wide-ranging fleet renewal.

It's the second aircraft retirement for Delta in nearly as many years, with the airline retiring its Boeing 747-400 aircraft in December 2017, but there's more to come. Delta's Boeing 777 aircraft will also exit the fleet before the end of 2020.

Here's what it was like for Delta on the final day of operations with McDonnell Douglas aircraft.