The General Future Of The MD-80?

Known as the SLUG because it was so slow, fortunately I never had to fly it.. but I have tripped over them for years. Most of the airlines that still operate them have long paid them off and are getting all the service out of the airframe that they can, and will continue to do so. The B737NG is twice the machine. They will slowly be pulled from service as the individual machines develop problems that are not worth maintaining and they will head out to the desert. Where other aircraft aged and were sold off or their leases expired, you might see them come back with startup airlines, but with the state of the economy I don't see any start up airlines popping up anytime soon.