McDonnell Douglas MD-81

8,962 parts applicable to this airframe — narrowbody

Part NumberStatus
1474253
3936668507
4034240906OEM
414472OEM
5910042507AB1OEM
591041281OEM
5911400515PMA
591140216PMA
5911402505OEM
591214160PMA
5919572508PMA
5920323187PMA
592253435unknown
59225762OEM
5926003403PMA
59304761OEM
59304762PMA
5930479OEM
59304811OEM
59304952OEM
5930495503PMA
5930496501J4PMA
59305475OEM
593590533OEM
59360109OEM
5936195401OEM
59362843OEM
5936469U1
5936594525OEM
5936715501PMA
5952803515OEM
5952803521PMA
8TJ85GBA2unknown
99100736OEM
991014010OEM
9911500283unknown
991157912OEM
991159091PMA
993648725OEM
99365343
993653435PMA
99365841OEM
99365851PMA
9936835505OEM
995766440unknown
99578283OEM
9957871515unknown
9957871517unknown
D126OEM
K22199SA31OEM

Utilization & cargo trend(US carriers, 2015–2025)

MD-80 family rollup — BTS T-100, domestic + international

Cycles per aircraft
752025
2015: 809 cycles/aircraft2016: 734 cycles/aircraft2017: 739 cycles/aircraft2018: 778 cycles/aircraft2019: 613 cycles/aircraft2020: 124 cycles/aircraft2021: 35 cycles/aircraft2022: 53 cycles/aircraft2023: 58 cycles/aircraft2024: 86 cycles/aircraft2025: 75 cycles/aircraft
20152025
2020: 124
Recovered to 14% of 2019 (2024 vs 2019)
Freighter share of departures
1%44%20152025
2015: 1.2% freighter share2016: 1.2% freighter share2017: 1.5% freighter share2018: 1.7% freighter share2019: 2.3% freighter share2020: 14.2% freighter share2021: 60.2% freighter share2022: 62.4% freighter share2023: 54.3% freighter share2024: 37.6% freighter share2025: 43.5% freighter share
20152025
Est. US-registered fleet
1202025
20152025

US carriers only (BTS T-100, domestic + international segments) — foreign-carrier flying is excluded, so global utilization runs higher. Fleet size is reconstructed from the FAA registry (built on or before each year, not yet deregistered) — an approximation. Freighter share counts departures with zero passengers and freight aboard — a proxy for freighter/combi operations, not a tail-by-tail conversion count. Missing years render as gaps.

USM supply — retirements & teardowns(20232026)

MD-80 family — FAA registry deregistrations

Left the US registry
49aircraft
Stayed domestic
42vs 7 exported
Avg age at retirement
38.3years
Still US-registered
119aircraft
Where this family's parts catalog concentrates — the systems most exposed to incoming teardown supply

FAA registry data. Domestic deregistration is a teardown proxy — it also captures re-registrations and some unflagged exports, so it is not a confirmed part-out count; exported aircraft left the US fleet intact and are not USM supply. ATA shares reflect where this directory's parts for the family concentrate (parts in parentheses) — a coverage signal, not the aircraft's bill of materials or a teardown-yield forecast.

Engine-program supply pressure(since 2023)

FAA registry — US-registered fleet

Engines account for roughly half of all MRO spend, so engine programs shedding aircraft are where retirement supply carries the most value.

Engine modelActive tailsEngine unitsRetired since ’23ExportedAvg age at dereg
P & W JT8D series8417229834.4 yr
P & W JT8D-21922444034.5 yr
P & W JT8D-9 series9244253.8 yr
P & W JT9D series13373041.7 yr
P & W JT8D-18213033 yr
P & W JT8D-17 series7161144 yr
P & W JT8D-156131151 yr
P & W JT8D-9A51100

FAA registry data, US-registered aircraft only. Counts reflect the engine model as registered — generic “series” rows coexist with thrust-variant rows, so per-variant figures are partial. Retired = domestic deregistrations (a teardown proxy, not a confirmed part-out); exported aircraft left the US fleet intact. Active tails span every family the engine flies on, not just this one.

Maintenance economics(US carriers, through 2026)

MD-80 family — BTS Form 41 filings

Direct maintenance per block hour
$471fleet avg
Airframe / engine split
$432/$39
Reporting carriers
3

BTS Form 41 data (Schedule P-5.2 maintenance expense over T-2 block hours), Group III US carriers only — filers above $1B annual revenue; smaller US operators, Part 135, and all non-US carriers are not in this data. Dollars are accrual-basis from regulatory filings (reserves and depreciation included), so they benchmark fleet economics and do not track to individual repair events. Averages are block-hour- weighted across every reporting carrier; the range spans per-carrier rates after excluding marginal reporting slices, and small carrier counts are noisy.

Airworthiness Directive activity

FAA / EASA public regulatory data

2airworthiness directives affecting this fleet — recurring compliance demand for the parts and shops that serve it
Most recent
  • FAA AD 2025-09-11effective Jun 12, 2025Prohibition

    The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all The Boeing Company Model DC-9-81 (MD-81), DC-9-82 (MD-82), DC-9-83 (MD- 83), DC 9-87 (MD-87), and MD-88 airplanes, and Model DC-9-10, DC-9-20, DC-9-30, DC-9-40, and DC-9-50 series airplanes. This AD was prompted by the discovery of jammed elevators during takeoff. This AD requires revising the "Certificate Limitations" section of the existing airplane flight manual (AFM) to include a procedure to confirm elevator surfaces are not jammed in the trailing edge down (TED) position. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

  • FAA AD 2023-01-13effective Mar 13, 2023Mixed actions

    The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model DC-9-81 (MD-81), DC-9-82 (MD-82), DC- 9-83 (MD-83), and DC-9-87 (MD-87) airplanes; and Model MD-88 airplanes. This AD was prompted by an evaluation by the design approval holder (DAH) indicating that certain center wing lower stringers are subject to widespread fatigue damage (WFD). WFD analysis found that fatigue cracks could grow to a critical length after the structural modification point (SMP) for these center wing lower stringers. This AD requires replacing certain left and right side center wing lower stringers. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

Directives linked to this airframe family in the FAA / EASA regulatory corpus we have processed — not a complete historical AD list. An AD is a compliance requirement that drives scheduled work (inspections, replacements, modifications) across the fleet; inspection directives are not replacement directives, and none of this is a prediction that any part will fail.