The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and MD-90 families of jetliners were built on the same assembly line in Long Beach, CA. Conceived as another stretched variant of the DC-9, the MD-80 made its first flight as the DC-9 Super 80. The MD-80 Series of twinjets, featuring many advances in technology, was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in August 1980 and entered airline service three months later. McDonnell Douglas built 1,159 MD-80s from 1979 to 1999.