McDonnell Douglas MD-87

Updated: October 2026 – Short, stocky, with thick engines at the tail and a fin that rises above the horizontal stabilizer: the McDonnell Douglas MD-87 is the youngest sibling of the MD-80 family and the only version with a short fuselage. In Europe, it was at home mainly with Iberia, SAS, Austrian and Finnair. Today it is history in scheduled service but is enjoying a second spring as a firefighting aircraft. Here you will learn how the MD-87 came about, how to recognize it reliably and where it left its mark.

What is the MD-87?

The MD-87 is a twinjet narrowbody for short and medium routes, with one aisle, five seats per row and two pilots in the cockpit. Typical were 114 seats in two classes or 130 in all-economy, with a maximum of 139 certified. That makes it offer clearly fewer seats than the long sisters.

Technically, it belongs fully to the MD-80 family: same wing, same T-tail, engines of the JT8D-200 series from Pratt & Whitney. Only the fuselage is shortened by a good five meters. At about 39.75 m long, it comes almost exactly to the size of the largest DC-9, the Series 50. McDonnell Douglas thus combined the cabin size of the late DC-9 with the technology of the MD-80.

The idea behind it: airlines with many thinner routes wanted an aircraft that fits the rest of the MD-80 fleet – same pilot type rating, same spare parts – but has fewer seats to fill. For Finnair, Austrian and later SAS, that was exactly the appeal.

How it came about: the short MD-80

The impetus came from two European customers. At the end of 1984, Finnair and Austrian Airlines ordered the new short version, and in January 1985, McDonnell Douglas announced the program launch. Formally, the project ran like all MD-80s under a DC-9 designation, and in the type certificate the aircraft is still called the DC-9-87 today.

The first flight took place on December 4, 1986. On October 21, 1987, the US aviation authority FAA granted certification, and in November 1987, Finnair and Austrian took delivery of their first aircraft. For Austrian, that was a special moment: the airline had already helped launch the MD-81 and was now again the launch customer of an MD-80 version.

Sales stayed modest. By the last delivery in March 1992 to SAS, only 75 aircraft were built. Many airlines relied on the long MD-80s or switched to the Boeing 737-300 and its sisters. For the next generation of rear-engine jets, McDonnell Douglas developed the MD-90 and the later Boeing 717.

Date	Event
End of 1984	Orders from Finnair and Austrian
January 1985	Official program launch
December 4, 1986	First flight
October 21, 1987	FAA certification
November 1987	First deliveries to Finnair and Austrian
1988	SAS starts with the MD-87
1990	Iberia starts with the MD-87
March 1992	Last delivery to SAS
October 8, 2001	Linate accident with the SAS MD-87 SE-DMA
2008	Iberia retires the MD-87
2012	SAS retires the MD-87

What was technically new about the MD-87

The MD-87 was more than a shortened MD-82. Three innovations made it the technology carrier of the family.

Glass cockpit: It was the first MD-80 with an electronic flight instrument system (EFIS). Instead of purely analog dial instruments, displays showed attitude and navigation. A head-up display was available on request. The long MD-80s only followed with the MD-88.

New tail cone: At the end of the fuselage sits a flatter, lower-drag cone, called the “beaver tail” in English. It proved so successful that it later became standard on all MD-80s. You will therefore find it on late MD-82s and MD-83s as well.

Extended vertical stabilizer: Above the horizontal stabilizer, the fin rises a bit higher than on the long versions. For you as a spotter, that is the most important recognition feature of all.

For propulsion, customers could choose between the JT8D-217C with about 89 kN and the JT8D-219 with about 93 kN of thrust. For longer routes there was a variant with two auxiliary tanks in the rear cargo hold, unofficially sometimes called the MD-87ER. That raised the range from about 4,400 to about 5,400 km. The Swedish charter airline Transwede used such aircraft for holiday flights across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and Florida.

How to recognize the MD-87 in three steps

Unlike the MD-81, MD-82 and MD-83, you can actually identify the MD-87 with the naked eye. Three looks are enough.

For confirmation, it is always worth looking at the registration. How to look up a registration and follow an aircraft’s history is explained in Tracking an aircraft by registration. You will find the basics of registration systems in Understanding aircraft registrations.

The MD-87 compared with its sisters and predecessor

Feature	MD-87	MD-82/MD-83	DC-9-50
ICAO type designator	MD87	MD82 / MD83	DC95
Length	about 39.8 m	about 45.1 m	similar to MD-87
Engine	JT8D-217C/-219	JT8D-217/-219	older, slimmer JT8D
Fin tip	extended above the horizontal stabilizer	horizontal stabilizer sits at the top	horizontal stabilizer sits at the top
Cockpit from the factory	EFIS displays	mostly classic instruments	classic instruments
Built	75	539 (+30 MD-82T) / 265	–

The greatest risk of confusion is with the DC-9-50, because both are almost the same length. Here the nacelles and the fin decide. What the DC-9 family looks like in detail is shown on the page for the DC-9. You will find the step to the long versions at the MD-81, MD-82 and MD-83.

Iberia: the largest MD-87 operator

No airline flew more MD-87s than Iberia. With 24 aircraft, the Spanish national airline was the largest buyer. In the late 1980s, Iberia planned to renew its medium-haul fleet: the MD-87 was to replace the old DC-9s, the Airbus A320 the Boeing 727. From 1990, the short MD-80s flew in the Spanish domestic and European network, later supplemented by MD-88s. In 2008, Iberia retired both types.

At Madrid-Barajas Airport, the MD-87 in Iberia colors was thus part of everyday life for almost two decades. The domestic sister Aviaco and leisure airlines like Spanair also relied on MD-80 fleets, so Spain was long considered the MD-80 country par excellence. If you have old Madrid pictures in your archive, it is worth looking at the tail: if the fin rises above the horizontal stabilizer, it is an MD-87. Where you can take photos in Madrid today is described in Plane spotting in Madrid-Barajas.

SAS: 18 aircraft and a black day in Linate

SAS operated one of the largest MD-80 fleets in the world, and the MD-87 had a fixed place in it. In total, 18 MD-87s flew with the Scandinavians, 16 of which SAS took delivery of brand new between 1988 and 1992 – including the very last MD-87 ever built. The short version was used mainly on European routes with lower demand, exactly where a long MD-81 or MD-82 would have been too big. In 2012, the MD-87 left the SAS fleet.

The SAS MD-87 SE-DMA “Lage Viking” gained sad notoriety. On October 8, 2001, it took off as Flight 686 from Milan Linate Airport bound for Copenhagen. Dense fog lay over the airport, with visibility of less than 200 meters. A business jet of the Cessna Citation type had strayed onto the active runway via a wrong taxiway. The MD-87 collided with it during the takeoff roll and crashed into a baggage building. All 110 people on board the MD-87, the four occupants of the Cessna and four ground staff died. With 118 fatalities, it is the worst aviation disaster in Italy’s history. The investigation showed, among other things, that the ground radar was not in operation and signage at the taxiway was missing.

The MD-87 was mainly to be seen at the SAS hubs such as Copenhagen Airport and Stockholm Arlanda Airport. The accident aircraft carried a Swedish SE registration; SAS registered its fleet in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Austrian and Finnair: the launch customers

Austrian Airlines was, together with Finnair, one of the launch customers of the MD-87. At the end of 1987, the first aircraft arrived in Vienna. In the Austrian fleet it flew alongside the MD-81, MD-82 and MD-83 and was a familiar sight at Vienna Airport for years. How Austrian OE registrations are structured is explained in Austrian OE registrations.

Finnair ordered at the same time as Austrian and also received its first MD-87s in November 1987. The Finns used the short version alongside their long MD-80s in the European network from Helsinki Airport.

In Germany, the leisure airline Aero Lloyd flew the MD-87 alongside the MD-83. Anyone setting off on vacation in the 1990s thus, with a bit of luck, sat in one of the rare short MD-80s.

Second life as a firefighting aircraft

The most exciting story of the MD-87 begins after its airline career. The US operator Erickson Aero Tanker was looking in the early 2010s for a fast, available aircraft for wildfire missions. The choice fell on the MD-87: from 2013, five former SAS aircraft were converted into tankers for fire retardant, and in 2014 the FAA granted the corresponding supplemental type certificate. In 2019, the order for a sixth conversion followed.

In the fuselage sits a tank with, according to the operator, 3,000 US gallons, so a good 11,000 liters. It is filled through connections on the side of the fuselage ahead of the wing, which according to the operator takes under seven minutes. The drop is made at around 135 to 140 knots. Erickson names five ready-for-service MD-87 tankers and two further airframes standing by for conversion; the tankers are approved for firefighting operations by the responsible body of the US authorities.

For you as a spotter, that means: anyone who wants to see an MD-87 in the air today has the best chances in North America during the wildfire season. In Europe, by contrast, wildfires are mainly fought with amphibious aircraft such as the Canadair CL-415 and its successor, the DHC-515.

How to find an MD-87 today

With such rare types, research wins, not chance at the fence.

Where the MD-87 was once at home

At its old home airports, you no longer meet the MD-87 in scheduled service. For before-and-after comparisons with archive pictures and as spotting destinations, they are still worthwhile:

Airport	Connection to the MD-87	Spot tip
Madrid-Barajas	Iberia base, largest MD-87 fleet	La Muñoza
Copenhagen	SAS hub	Flyvergrillen
Stockholm Arlanda	SAS hub	Arlanda spotters’ hill
Vienna	Austrian, launch customer 1987	Vienna spotters’ hill

You will find more background on the spots in Plane spotting in Copenhagen-Kastrup and Plane spotting in Vienna-Schwechat. More oldtimers and rarities are presented in Spotting rare aircraft and Recognizing historic aircraft.

Photo tips for the MD-87

• A side view is a must: Only that way do you show the short fuselage length and the extended fin together – the two features that separate the MD-87 from all its siblings.
• Tail at an angle from behind: This is where the flat tail cone, the thick nacelles and the T-tail come across best.
• Sharp registration: Especially with repainted ex-airline aircraft and tankers, the registration is the key to the aircraft’s life story.
• Plan the light: Rare visitors seldom come twice. How to check the sun position ahead of time is shown in Planning the sun position for your photo spot.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The MD-87 was McDonnell Douglas’s compact answer for thinner routes: shorter than its siblings, technically more modern and with a fin tip that makes it unmistakable to this day. Finnair and Austrian brought it into scheduled service in 1987, and Iberia and SAS made it an everyday sight in Madrid, Copenhagen and Stockholm. With only 75 built, it remained a sideshow – and that is exactly what makes it so appealing for spotters today. In European scheduled service it is history, while over North American wildfires it is all the more present.