JAL-Japan Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-81 (MD-81) JA8553 (msn 53298) FUK (John Adlard) (last DC-9-81 to be retired in September), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

JAL-Japan Airlines (Tokyo) will be retiring the last McDonnell Douglas DC-9-81 (MD-81) (all ex-JAS) at the end of September. As a way of saying goodbye to the classic, JAL will conduct a “MD-81 Farewell Tour” on September 19-20. On the first day, the aircraft (registration is undecided at this time) will depart from Osaka (KIX) at 8:45 a.m. (0845), arriving at Oki (OKI) at 9:45 a.m. (0945). At Oki passengers will be able to walk around the tarmac to take photos of the aircraft. At 3 p.m. (1500), the airliner will leave Oki for Sapporo (CTS), arriving at 5 p.m. (1700). On the second day, the aircraft will leave CTS
at 7:45 a.m. (0745), arriving at OKI at 9:45 a.m. (0945). Passengers on the special flight will again be able to take photos, plus the aircraft will perform touch-and-go’s on this day. At 4:30 p.m. (1630) the airliner will leave OKI for KIX, arriving at 5:35 p.m. (1745). Tickets are being sold by JALTours.

In other retirement news, JAL quietly phased out its last three Boeing 767-200s. JA8231 was withdrawn from service in December 2009 and both JA8232 and JA8233 were withdrawn from scheduled service in March 2010 and became back-up equipment. JA8233 left the fleet on June 4, 2010 followed by JA8232 on June 11, 2010.

Copyright Photo: John Adlard. McDonnell Douglas DC-9-81 (MD-81) JA8553 (msn 53298) prepares to land at Fukuoka.