No more MD-80s on Alaska by end of 2008

Alaska going to an all-Boeing 737 fleet

Like Southwest and other low-cost airlines that save money by flying only one kind of jetliner, Alaska Airlines will be operating nothing but Boeing 737s by 2009.

The Seattle-based airline announced Monday an accelerated plan for phasing out its 26 MD- 80s by the end of 2008.

The move will significantly reduce Alaska’s fuel and maintenance costs, executives said.

Under its old plan, Alaska would have kept some MD-80s in service until 2017.

I have mixed feelings about this. The MD-80’s were old old old planes, and it was absolutely awful if you ever sat in the last few rows next to the engines. And for some reason, they had a rep for being a bit more on the “risky” side - due in part to the T-tail in which stalls would always be catastrophic (if I understand correctly.)

That said, it had the 3-2 config. If you got a seat on the 2 side, life wasn’t so bad as you could never be stuck in the middle. And, if you were up front, the ride was pretty quiet.

Being that this isn’t going to happen until the end of 2008, I guess I have a few more years of thinking about this.