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Boeing 717
Trans World Airlines (TWA)
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Boeing 717
AirTran
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Boeing 717
Midwest
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Boeing 717
The twinjet Boeing 717 is Boeing Commercial Airplanes' smallest commercial
airliner intended for the 100 seat market. It entered service in September,
1999, making it one of the newest airliners on the market, and yet one of the
oldest. The 717 is a renamed McDonnell Douglas MD-95 which, itself, was based
on the venerable Douglas DC-9 that first flew in 1965. On January 14, 2005, the
Boeing Company announced that it will discontinue production of the 717 in 2006.
This will end the long history of McDonnell Douglas commercial aircraft in
Long Beach, CA.
Boeing had apparently skipped the 717 model designation when the 720,
not, as some claim, the 727, became the airliner which followed the 707.
But 717 had, in fact, been used by the company to refer to the military
version of the 707 which the U.S. Air Force redesignated the KC-135
Stratotanker which has a smaller cabin diameter than the 707. It had also been
used to promote an early design of the 720 to airlines before it was modifed
to meet market demands as the eventual 720. This left 717 available until the
MD-95 was rebranded.
Early background
The last third of the 20th century had been a difficult one for aircraft
manufacturers. The one time undisputed market leader, Douglas, faced with
declining sales of its Douglas DC-8 line and stiff competition from the 737
for its DC-9, found the task of financing the planned wide-body trijet DC-10
beyond its means and was forced to merge with military specialist McDonnell
in 1967.
Post merger, McDonnell Douglas, MDC, continued to struggle. The DC-8 production
line closed in 1972, and by chasing the same market niche the DC-10 and rival
Lockheed Tristar both lost money. Only the DC-9 continued to sell well. Almost
1000 were built up to 1982, when it was stretched and renamed the MD-80 Series.
Over 1100 MD-80s were delivered through the 1980s and early 1990s, but the
follow-on revision, the MD-90, sold poorly with just 117 made. It has, however,
outsold the 737-600 and Airbus A318, leaving one to wonder if the problem wasn't
the aircraft itself but the lack of a family of aircraft to support it.
Troubled start
The MD-95, the aircraft that would eventually become the 717, was announced
in 1991, initially as the MD-87-105, a re-shortened version of the stretched
MD-80 family that took it back to about the same size as the DC-9 Series 30 of
the 1960s. It was soon renamed MD-95 to reflect the anticipated first delivery
date, but also in the event MDC could not find an airline willing to place a firm
order to start production against until that time.
In October, 1995, US discount carrier ValuJet signed an order for 50 MD-95s
plus 50 options. Generally, new aircraft have one or more large,
well established, high prestige airlines as launch customers. Launching MD-95
production on the basis of a single order from a two year old startup company
with doubtful finances was highly optimistic and seen as a reflection of the
difficulty MDC was having selling aircraft.
In December, 1996, Boeing made a $13 billion takeover offer for McDonnell Douglas
and the merger became official the following year. Boeing was quick to get rid
of the entire MDC commercial product line saving only the MD-95 which was
renamed the Boeing 717, and, for a short while longer, the freighter version
of the MD-11.
Most industry observers expected that the MD-95 would soon be dropped also.
To begin with, Boeing had no more success selling the 717 than McDonnell Douglas
and even the original order for 50 was no certainty in the chaotic,
post-deregulation US airline market. A customer must not only want an aircraft
it must be able to pay for it. In the meantime, ValuJet, now known as
AirTran Airways, would meet with considerable success and is now operating
73 717-200 aircraft as well as 5 new 737-700s. They continue to accept
deliveries on both the 717 and the 737.)
Boeing took a handful of small orders from leasing companies and minor operators,
and a second large order for 50 717s from TWA, but following the dramatic slump
in airline traffic caused by reaction to the September 11th incident in the USA,
Boeing announced a review of the type's future.
After much deliberation it was decided to proceed. Despite the lack of orders
Boeing had confidence in the 717's fundamental suitability to the 100 seat market
and in the long term size of that market. Additionally, the former Douglas plant
at Long Beach was almost idle. Besides the 717s there was only a handful of
C-17s to keep it busy. Perhaps most importantly of all, dropping the 717 would
mean abandoning the 100 seat market to Airbus and their planned A318. From a
marketing point of view, any airline that bought A318s would have a powerful
reason to then buy A320s and A321s instead of 737s to take advantage of common
parts and crewing if the airline didn't have many 737s in its fleet already.
Instead of using the 100 seat class aircraft, airliners might have chosen to
use a larger aircraft but use only half of its seats, half of its fuel capacity,
and so on to achieve more commonality with other aircraft in their fleet rather
than have a diverse range of aircraft.
Finding a niche, turnaround
The wisdom of the Boeing decision gradually became apparent. Early 717
operators were delighted with the reliability and passenger appeal of the
type and ordered more. The small Australian regional airline Impulse is an
example. Impulse took a long term lease on five 717s in early 2000, to begin an
aggressive expansion into mainline routes. To the surprise of few, the ambitious
move could not be sustained in competition with the majors and Impulse sold
out to Qantas in May, 2001. This left Qantas with a more-or-less unwanted handful
of warmed-over DC-9s to spoil the efficiency of its fleet of large Boeing and
small BAe 146 jets.
Within a few months, however, the abilities of the 717 became clear. It is
roomier and faster than the BAe-146, cheaper to operate, and has achieved an
outstanding dispatch reliability of 99.6%. Maintenence costs are very low: a
check C inspection, for example, takes just three days and is required only once
in 4500 flying hours. For comparison, the old DC-9, which was always
well regarded by engineering departments for its fuss free nature, needed 21
days for a check C. The new Rolls Royce BR715 engine design is highly modular:
none of the line replaceable units takes more than an hour to exchange and
about a third of them can be changed in under 15 minutes. Boeing claims a better
than 10% operating cost advantage over the A318.
The result has been that many 717 operators, even accidental ones like Qantas,
have become converts to the type. Qantas has bought more 717s to bring their
fleet up to 14, and it is the front running candidate to replace their large
BAe 146 fleet as well. Other significant orders have come from Hawaiian Airlines,
Midwest Express, and Pembroke Leasing.
After 19 worldwide 717 sales in 2000, and just 6 in 2001, Boeing took 32 717
orders in 2002, despite the massive industry downturn.
The 100 seat market was overcrowded until 2001, but several potential
competitors have disappeared. BAe cancelled their Avro RJX, an updated BAe 146
with modern engines, Fairchild Dornier closed their doors taking the 728/928 project
with them, and Bombardier cancelled their new BRJ in favour of a less ambitious,
stretched 90 seat CRJ.
The remaining players are Boeing themselves, Airbus with the A318, and Embraer
with the ERJ 195. The existing worldwide fleet is largely made up of aging
twinjets with relatively high operating costs, notably the DC-9, early model
737s, and the Fokker F100, plus the newer four engined BAe 146, which is a prime
prospect for refurbishment.
End of Production
In January, 2005, Boeing announced that it planned to end production of the 717
after it had met all its outstanding orders. Boeing officials cited slow sales
for the aircraft's demise.
Increased competition from regional jets manufactured by Embraer and Bombardier
took a heavy toll on sales in the last several years before the announcement
was made. The beginning of the end came in December, 2003, when Boeing lost a
US $2.7 billion contract from Air Canada who chose the Embraer ERJ and Canadair
CRJ over the 717.
The last 717 is expected to roll off the assembly line in May, 2006, at Boeing's
production facility in Long Beach, California.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Boeing 717".
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