Europe’s affectionately known as the ‘Mad Dog’ and the ‘McDonnell Douglas’ prominently known as MD-80 lineage of narrow-body aircraft lived up to a 20-year production run that saw nearly production of 1200 of these planes. With the influx of time, these series became increasingly antique and less common among aircraft. In Europe, these planes are barely found flying, but Bulgaria is one of them.
Bulgaria is one of those handfuls of countries in Europe where ‘Mad Dog’ and the ‘McDonnell Douglas’ fly in abundance. It wouldn’t be wrong if we called Bulgaria the hotspot of the aircraft. According to the sources, in European airlines, there are about 13 such planes registered in these airlines, out of which thirteen belong to Bulgaria; however, two belong to Ukraine.
NJ-18 first flew on 8th January 1981 and also bestowed and just in seven months FAA certificate. Soon it became one of the prominent variants, and it continued its service for 16 years. Bulgarian carriers have 11 registered MD -82 planes, out of which the majority of them fly with European airlines.
On the other hand, the operator of another pair of MD-82s, also known as ALK Airlines, is about 32 years old, making it older than a nine-strong fleet of Airbus A320-200 aircraft, which came two years later than the MD-82. Each carrier of Mad Dogs can carry nearly 164 passengers on average.
There is another version of these planes, MD-83 with a longer-range version of the essential MD 81/82 with higher weights. Other performances include MD-87 and MD-88. Historically, European Air Charter has operated further 11 MD-82s. It is to be noted that LZ-LDK is one of the archaic examples, although this 35.11-year-old example hasn’t flown since the pandemic.
With a knee-crunching standard seat pitch of mere 28 inches, LZ-DEO is the denser of the pair, having the ability to carry 172 passengers. Meantime, LZ-ADV provides a more cozy and comfortable experience. Both joined A&K airlines in 2016.