McDonnell Douglas MD-90

Updated: October 2026 – Long and slim like an MD-80, T-tail on top of the fin, but hanging at the back are two strikingly thick, round engines: anyone who spots an aircraft like that on an old slide or in a photo database is very likely looking at a McDonnell Douglas MD-90. It is the penultimate chapter of the DC-9 story and the attempt to make the proven rear-engine concept fit for the 1990s with modern engine technology. Here you will learn how the MD-90 came about, how to recognize it reliably, which airlines flew it – from the Delta hub in Atlanta to EuroAirport Basel – and why you practically only find it in the archive today.

What is the MD-90?

The MD-90 is a twinjet narrowbody for short and medium routes with one aisle and five seats per row. Depending on the layout, about 153 to 172 passengers fit aboard. Technically, it is a development of the MD-80, which in turn goes back to the DC-9 of the 1960s. That makes it part of the longest-lived aircraft family McDonnell Douglas ever built.

The most important difference is at the tail: instead of the slender but loud and thirsty Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200s of the MD-80, the MD-90 carries two IAE V2500s. These are modern turbofans with a high bypass ratio – the first use of this design on a DC-9 descendant. They are quieter and more economical but also clearly larger in diameter. Add to that a fuselage stretched by about 1.4 meters, so at about 46.5 meters, the MD-90 is the longest member of the family.

A small technical detail shows how much effort went into the conversion: the engine pylons have their own flaps that can deflect 30 degrees downward. They help the aircraft recover from a stall.

How it came about: from propfan to V2500

In the late 1980s, McDonnell Douglas was looking for a successor to the MD-80 that would use significantly less fuel. At first the manufacturer bet on a radical idea: propfan engines, that is, open rotors with counter-rotating blades at the tail. The concept last ran as a project under the name MD-94X, and the propfans themselves were tested in the air on a modified MD-81. Among airlines, however, the unfamiliar technology did not catch on.

In mid-1989, McDonnell Douglas drew the consequence and replaced the propfan with the conventional IAE V2500, which had just been introduced on the Airbus A320. The change of strategy paid off quickly: on November 14, 1989, Delta Air Lines ordered 50 aircraft and secured options on 110 more. Delta thus became the launch customer.

The first flight took place on February 22, 1993, and certification followed on November 16, 1994. In February 1995, Delta took delivery of the first production aircraft. As with the MD-80 and DC-9, production was in Long Beach in California. In addition, McDonnell Douglas agreed to license production in Shanghai: originally 40 examples of the MD-90-30T “Trunkliner” version were to be built there, later the number was reduced to 20, and in the end only two were built. Both went to China Northern.

In 1997, McDonnell Douglas merged into Boeing. Boeing announced the end of the MD-90 in the same year but worked off the open orders. Delta canceled its remaining 19 orders and switched to the Boeing 737-800. The last MD-90 left Long Beach in October 2000 for Saudi Arabian Airlines. The planned variants MD-90-10 and MD-90-50 never came to be. Another offshoot lived on instead: the shorter MD-95 became the Boeing 717 after the merger – with similarly round rear engines, but from Rolls-Royce.

The three features that are enough to identify it

The MD-90 shares rear engines and a T-tail with the whole extended family. Three looks are still enough for a reliable identification.

In the end, the registration confirms the identification. With the MD-90 in particular, it is worth looking into the history, because many aircraft flew in succession with two or three airlines. How to read registrations is explained in Understanding aircraft registrations, and with How to find out an aircraft’s age you trace an aircraft’s life story back.

The versions at a glance

At its core, only one base version was built, the MD-90-30. The sub-variants differ in fuel capacity, weight and cockpit; from the outside they look practically the same.

Version	Built	Special feature
MD-90-30	most of the production	Base version with V2525-D5 or V2528-D5, EFIS cockpit similar to the MD-88
MD-90-30ER	very few (figures vary between one and two)	Auxiliary tank of about 2,140 liters, range about 4,500 km
MD-90-30IGW	1	increased takeoff weight
MD-90-30EFD	29	“Enhanced Flight Deck” for Saudi Arabian Airlines, full glass cockpit modeled on the MD-11
MD-90-30T “Trunkliner”	2	assembled in Shanghai, operator China Northern

Most interesting is the EFD version: Saudi Arabian Airlines – today Saudia – got its 29 aircraft with a cockpit modeled on the widebody MD-11. After their retirement, the Saudi MD-90s were reportedly scrapped except for one aircraft.

MD-90, MD-80 or Boeing 717?

Almost all mix-ups happen within the family. The finder helps you narrow it down.

Feature	MD-82/83	MD-90	Boeing 717
ICAO type designator	MD82 / MD83	MD90	B712
Engines	P&W JT8D-200, long and narrow	IAE V2500, large and round	Rolls-Royce BR715, large and round
Length	about 45.1 m	about 46.5 m	about 37.8 m
Cockpit	analog (MD-88: EFIS)	EFIS, EFD version glass cockpit	glass cockpit

Outside the family, the risk of confusion is low. The Fokker 100 also has rear engines and a T-tail but is considerably shorter and shows its side-opening air brakes at the end of the fuselage. The contemporary competitors A320 and 737 carry their engines under the wings. You will find more basics on type identification in Recognizing aircraft types for beginners.

The operators: Atlanta, Riyadh, Tokyo and Basel

The 116 new-builds went to 13 airlines. The biggest buyers were Saudi Arabian Airlines with 29 aircraft, Delta and Japan Air System with 16 each and China Northern with 13. In addition came China Eastern, Taiwan’s Uni Air, SAS, Reno Air, Air Aruba, EVA Air and Kıbrıs Türk Hava Yolları, among others.

Delta Air Lines: The launch customer stayed loyal to the type until the end – and even expanded the fleet later with used aircraft. In total, Delta operated 65 MD-90s. At Atlanta Airport, Delta’s home hub, the MD-88 and MD-90 were part of everyday life for decades. Retirement began in 2017, and the COVID pandemic accelerated it. On June 2, 2020, Delta flew the last commercial flights with the MD-88 and MD-90 – ending the type’s scheduled service worldwide.

Japan: Japan Air System put 16 MD-90-30s into service from 1995. After the merger with Japan Airlines, the aircraft continued to fly under the JAL flag and were retired in 2013.

Saudi Arabia and China: Saudi Arabian Airlines was the largest launch operator with its 29 EFD aircraft. In China, China Northern and China Eastern Airlines flew the MD-90, and China Northern also flew the two Trunkliners assembled in Shanghai.

Southeast Asia: Used MD-90s ended up with Lion Air in Indonesia, among others. One of them overran the runway in Jakarta in March 2009 in rain and wind and had to be written off.

If you search your own archive or photo databases for the registrations of these aircraft, you will often find them in several liveries – a nice example of how much history can lie in a single registration. You can read more about livery changes in Recognizing hybrid and mixed liveries.

Second life as a research aircraft: the X-66

The history of the MD-90 took a surprising turn in the 2020s. For the X-66 research program with NASA, Boeing chose a former MD-90 that had previously flown with China Northern and Delta. The goal was to test an extremely long, slender wing braced by struts – a concept for more economical airliners of the future. The long fuselage of the MD-90 offered a suitable basis.

In August 2023, the aircraft was ferried to Palmdale, California, where the conversion was to begin. Most recently, only three MD-90s were registered, all owned by Boeing and intended for the program. On April 24, 2025, however, Boeing announced it was pausing the X-66 program indefinitely; according to Boeing, research on thin wings continues in another form. What happens to the airframes is, to our knowledge, open.

For you as a spotter, that means: the remaining MD-90s are more a case for factory grounds in California than for your home airport. How manufacturers paint and mark their test aircraft is shown in the article In-house liveries of Airbus, Boeing and Embraer.

The engines: IAE V2500

The heart of the MD-90 is the V2500-D5. At its core it matches the V2500-A5 of the A320 family but has its own mounts and accessories fitted on the side rather than the bottom so it can be mounted on the side of the fuselage. The V2525-D5 received its certification on November 29, 1992. How to tell engine designs apart in general is shown in the guide Recognizing engines. The D5 versions deliver about 25,000 to 28,000 lbf, so roughly 111 to 125 kilonewtons.

The V2500 is built by the International Aero Engines consortium. Pratt & Whitney took part in the development with the combustor and high-pressure turbine, Rolls-Royce with the high-pressure compressor, the Japanese Aero Engines Corporation with the low-pressure compressor including the fan, and Munich’s MTU Aero Engines with the low-pressure turbine. A piece of German engineering work thus flew along in every MD-90.

What is left for spotters?

Honestly: photographing an MD-90 live is almost impossible as of October 2026. The type is still exciting, for three reasons.

How rare your sighting is and which other classics can still be found, you will learn in Spotting rare aircraft and Recognizing historic aircraft. If you are looking for a still-active relative instead, you have better chances with the Boeing 717; whether and where it is flying right now is best checked currently in the tracker.

If the opportunity does come up – for example a test flight or ferry flight – the usual photo rules apply: a clean side view shows the long fuselage, and a slightly angled view from behind showcases the round engines. Where the sun is at what time you plan with the guide Planning the sun position for your photo spot.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The MD-90 was the attempt to rescue the DC-9 idea into the 1990s with modern engine technology. Technically that succeeded – the V2500s made it quieter and more economical than the MD-80. Commercially it came too late: against the A320 and 737 and after the takeover by Boeing, it stayed at 116 aircraft. Delta, Saudia, Japan Air System and China Northern defined its career, and in Switzerland Hello flew it out of Basel. Since 2020 it has disappeared from scheduled service.