the md-95 traces its history back to 1983 when mcdonnell douglas outlined a study named the "dc-9-90". during the early 1980s, as production of the dc-9 family moved away from the smaller series 30 towards the larger super 80 (later redesignated md-80) variants, mcdonnell douglas proposed a smaller version of the dc-9 to fill the gap left by the dc-9-30. dubbed the dc-9-90, it was revealed in february 1983 and was to be some shorter than the dc-9-81, giving it an overall length of . the aircraft was proposed with a thrust version of the jt8d-200 series engine, although the cfm international cfm56-3 was also considered. seating up to 117 passengers, the dc-9-90 was to be equipped with the dc-9's wing with tip extensions, rather than the more heavily modified increased area of the md-80. the aircraft had a design range of , with an option to increase to , and a gross weight of .