Boeing 717
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The twinjet Boeing 717 is Boeing Commercial Airplanes' smallest commercial airliner, intended for the 100-seat market. The first order was taken in October 1995, with the type entering service in September 1999. At the time it was one of the newest airliners on the market, yet it was developed as a third-generation variant of the venerable DC-9. Boeing discontinued production of the 717 in May 2006. This ended the long history of McDonnell Douglas commercial aircraft assembly in Long Beach, California.
Boeing had apparently skipped the "717" model designation when the 720 (not as some claim, the 727) became the airliner which followed the 707. The "717" name had in fact been used by the company to refer to the narrower-cabin military version of the 707, which the U.S. Air Force designated the KC-135 Stratotanker. It had also been used to promote an early design of the 720 to airlines before it was modifed to meet market demands. This left "717" available until the MD-95 was rebranded. The Boeing 717 already had 155 orders and 150 had been delivered.
Early background
The last third of the 20th century had been a difficult one for aircraft manufacturers. Douglas, the one-time undisputed market leader, was faced with declining sales of its DC-8 series and stiff competition from the 737 for its DC-9. Douglas 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 Corporation (MDC) continued to struggle: the DC-8 production line closed in 1972; by targeting the same market niche, the DC-10 and the rival Lockheed L-1011 both lost money. Only the DC-9 continued to sell well: almost 1000 were built by 1982, when the stretched MD-80 series was put into service. Over 1,100 MD-80s were delivered through the 1980s and early 1990s, but the following MD-90 sold poorly, with just 117 built. It outsold the 737-600 and Airbus A318, suggesting that low sales could have been due to the lack of a supporting family of aircraft.
Troubled start
The MD-95—the aircraft that would eventually be renamed the 717—was announced in 1991, initially as the MD-87-105, a shortened version of the stretched MD-80 family that took it back to the size of the 1960s DC-9-30. It was soon renamed "MD-95" to reflect the anticipated first delivery date, but McDonnell Douglas could not find a willing launch customer.
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 start-up company 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 save for the MD-95 (re-named the 717) and for a short while, the MD-11F freighter.
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 end, ValuJet, now known as AirTran Airways, would meet with considerable success and is now operating 85 717-200 aircraft, as well as 22 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 landed a large order of 50 717s from TWA, prior to its final bankruptcy and takeover by American Airlines. American (after it acquired TWA) accepted delivery of the aircraft, and operated them as TWA flights for a short time, before retiring the type. Many of the TWA aircraft ended up at AirTran. American indicated that it was pleased with the aircraft's performance, but was not willing to continue paying the high lease rates negotiated by TWA prior to the acquisition.
Following the dramatic slump in airline traffic caused by reaction to the September 11, 2001 attacks 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 with only the 717s and C-17s to keep it busy.
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%. Maintenance 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.
The result has been that many 717 operators, even accidental ones like Qantas, have become converts to the plane. 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 and Midwest Airlines and Pembroke Leasing. Bangkok Airways operates 717s - the Thai regional carrier's first foray into jet aircraft.
Boeing actively marketed the 717 to a number of large airlines, including Lufthansa and Northwest (in Northwest's case, they already operated a large fleet of quite old DC-9 aircraft, similarly sized to the 717). Boeing also studied a stretched, higher capacity version of the 717, dubbed 717-300, but decided against proceeding with the new model, fearing that it would encroach on the company's 737-700 model. Production of the original 717 continued. Boeing continued to believe that the 100-passenger market would be lucrative enough to support both the 717 and the 737-600, the smallest of the Next-Generation 737 series. While the aircraft were similar in size, the 737-600 (and Airbus' A318) were suited to long-distance routes, while the lighter 717 was more efficient on shorter, regional routes.
After 19 worldwide 717 sales in 2000, and just 6 in 2001, Boeing took 32 orders for the 717 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 EMB 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 Bombardier, Canadair and Embraer 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.
A major difficulty with the 717 model was its lack of commonality with other Boeing aircraft. The trend with aircraft manufacturers, particularly Airbus, was to make a "family" of aircraft with similar cockpits and systems, which would require only one "type-rating" for a crew. That way, whatever size of aircraft that was required on a particular route -- even changing down to the day if necessary -- could be used with any of the crew type-rated for the family.
Airbus used a commonality approach starting with their A320 narrowbody family (including A318, A319, and A321), and Boeing embraced this concept with their Next-Generation 737-600, -700, -800, and -900 models. Embraer, in their new E-Jet family, also took this approach, offering four regional aircraft in a common family, the largest of which had operational capabilities very close to the 717.
The 717 had no commonality with other aircraft, even prior MD-80 and DC-9 aircraft upon which it was based. Although the 717 had operating costs 10% lower than the A318, airlines considering the 717 could not take advantage of the cost savings gained through commonality.
Assembly of the 156th, and final, 717 aircraft began at Boeing's Long Beach facility in early February 2006. It rolled off the assembly line in April 2006 for AirTran. The 717 was the last commercial airplane produced in the Southern California factory. Over 15,000 airplanes were produced in Long Beach since the plant opened in 1941. The final two Boeing 717 airframes were delivered to customers AirTran and Midwest Airlines, respectively, on May 23, 2006.
As for the Engine Build-up (EBU), Goodrich Aerostructures Group (formerly Rohr Industries) in Chula Vista, California had completed the last pair of the nacelles for the Rolls-Royce BR715 engines in March 15, 2006. The nacelle package for the engines, which consist the inlet, fan cowls and thrust reversers, along with the EBU, were designed and manufactured by Goodrich Aerostructures Group, with the integration in Building 61 of its plant in Chula Vista. By coincidence, the B717 program's last design engineer Gary Knaust at Goodrich Aerostructures Group has retired from his career shortly after the last nacelles delivery to Boeing.
Specifications (717-200BGW)
References
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