With MD-90 production ending early as a casualty of the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger in 1997, the discussion often comes up in regards to the MD-90 as to whether it’d have had better success in the market had the merger not taken place. I would argue only modestly so when stacked up against the 737NG and the A320 family. The main handicap the MD-90 has is its wing. It’s basically identical other than structural beef up and aerodynamic seals to the MD-80 wing. Back in the late 1970s McDD looked at a supercritical wing for the MD-80, but decided against it an opted for using an enlarged version of the legacy DC-9 wing. When you get to the MD-90, its wing wasn’t as aerodynamically advanced as the A320 or 737NG wings. That’s not to say that the MD-90 is a bad aircraft. As the launch customer, Delta had some specific requirements for the MD-90- it had to do CVG-SFO nonstop with 150 passengers in two classes, it had to be exempt from the noise restrictions at SNA, and it had to be able to takeoff with a full load all year round from hot/high airports like SLC. It met those requirements. But when the MD-90 came to market, no one envisioned transcons and ETOPS flights by the A320 or 737NG families. Those families of aircraft can do a lot of what the MD-90 was designed to and do more and do it efficiently. If McDD upped the budget for a new supercritical wing for the MD-90 and baselined the design around the never-built MD-90-50 extended range model, they would have had a fighting chance. Add in a glass cockpit and a more reliable electrical system, then yeah, barring the merger, *that* would make the MD-90 a success. The reality of it is though that Delta has never asked its MD-90s to do what the 737NG/A320 families can do. And within that scope of operation, the MD-90 gets the job done. This aircraft is N946DN, originally delivered to Japan Air System in December 1995. Crossed over to Japan Air Lines when JAL acquired JAS, and then passed on to Delta in October 2012. #Avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KDFW #DFW #Dallas #FortWorth #Texas #dfwavgeek #airport #planespotting #airlines #McDonnellDougas #MD90 #Delta #instagramaviation #N946DN (at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport)