TOURISM

They Love to Fly--Quietly: Delta Air Lines is using one of the world’s quietest new airliners in one of the world’s most noise-sensitive airports--Orange County’s John Wayne.

The Atlanta-based airline said it recently put its new McDonnell Douglas MD-90 airliners into service from John Wayne to Salt Lake City, a so-called “hub” airport where Delta passengers can make connections to other destinations.

Besides being one of the quietest large planes, the MD-90 is equipped with engines that are 10% more fuel efficient than others in its class and emit only one-fifth of the pollutants allowed by international regulations, Delta said.

Delta has 31 of the Long Beach-made planes on order.

--Compiled by Times staff writer Chris Woodyard