McDonnell/Douglas
McDonnell Douglas MD-80/83

Type certification (TC)

Following the MD-81's first flight on October 18, 1979, the MD-82 and MD-83 made their maiden flights on January 8, 1981, and December 17, 1984, respectively They were then certified by the FAA on August 25, 1980, July 29, 1981, and October 17, 1985, respectively. The first airliner, an MD-81, was delivered to launch operator Swissair on September 13, 1980 Instead of merely using the MD- prefix as a marketing symbol, an application was made to again amend the type certificate to include the MD-81, MD-82, and MD-83. This change was dated March 10, 1986, and the type certificate declared that although the MD designator could be used in parentheses, it must be accompanied by the official designation, for example: DC-9-81 (MD-81). All Long Beach aircraft in the MD-80 series thereafter had MD-81, MD-82, or MD-83 stamped on the aircraft nameplate

The MD-87 and MD-88 made their first flight on December 4, 1986, and August 15, 1987, respectively.Although not certified until October 21, 1987, McDonnell Douglas had already applied for models DC-9-87 and DC-9-87F on February 14, 1985. The third derivative was similarly officially designated DC-9-87 (MD-87), although no nameplates were stamped DC-9-87. For the MD-88, an application for a type certificate model amendment was made after the earlier changes, so there was not a DC-9-88, which was certified on December 8, 1987 The FAA's online aircraft registry database shows the DC-9-88 and DC-9-80 designations in existence but unused