U.S. DC-8 Operations Winding Down

U.S. DC-8 Operations Winding Down

After nearly 54 years of service, DC-8 operations in the U.S. are set to become even rarer with the pending retirement of Air Transport International’s (ATI) remaining DC-8 fleet, according to an Aviation Week report on Tuesday.

ATI is withdrawing its last four DC-8s from service early this year and replacing them with 757s. Once completed, only two DC-8s will be in operation with US operators: a DC-8-63F with National Airlines and a DC-8-72 test bird with NASA. Interestingly, four of the six DC-8s still in operation in the US still have the original JT3D engines and not the relatively fuel-efficient and quiet CFM56s that many DC-8s were re-engined with in the mid-1980s.

According to Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s Fleet Database, 36 DC-8s are left in service worldwide.

By Brian Bostick of Aviation Week

Updated: January 9, 2013 — 11:56 AM
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