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How the Boeing jet no one wanted became the plane airlines scour the planet for

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  • The Boeing 717-200 went out of production in 2006.
  • Only 156 of the planes have been built.
  • A decade later, the airlines that operate the 717 want more of them.
On May 23, 2006, Boeing delivered the last two 717-200 jetliners to customers at its Long Beach, California factory. It marked to the end of a program filled with promise but that had ultimately failed to capture the interest of airlines. Even Boeing’s well-oiled sales operation could only manage to muster up 156 orders for the little 100-seat, short-haul-airliner.
Currently, the 717 is operated primarily by four airlines; Delta, Hawaiian, Qantas, and Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea. With 91 of the planes in its fleet, Delta is the by far the type’s largest operator.
Incredibly, a decade after being axed from Boeing’s lineup, airlines are scouring the planet looking for available Boeing 717s.

“These guys keep begging me to give them more 717s,” Dinesh Keskar, Boeing’s senior vice president of sales for the Asia Pacific and India, told Business Insider. “But that era over and it’s not going to happen.”
So how did a plane Boeing couldn’t sell become an aircraft that airlines can’t get enough of?

 

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Airlines are very funny - when the plane was available, no one wants to order it. Now that it is out of production, everyone wants it! Similar to the B757 - I wonder if it will also happen to the A380.

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Airlines are very funny - when the plane was available, no one wants to order it. Now that it is out of production, everyone wants it! Similar to the B757 - I wonder if it will also happen to the A380.

Its an exaggeration to say everyone wants it now that production has ended. The airlines that want more 717s are mainly those who already have them in their fleet, which is a tiny number. Its unlikely to a huge order in any case, certainly not by the hundreds.

 

I also dont think its fair to say nobody wanted the 757 when it was in production. Sure, you have SQ which experimented with a few before deciding it wasnt for them, but over a thousand were built for many other airlines over 20+ years. Their gripe today isnt about not getting new 757s, but the lack of a direct replacement for it.

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Their gripe today isnt about not getting new 757s, but the lack of a direct replacement for it.

 

I would imagine that it is in the same situation as you have described for the 717. The only ones who will want it are those whose needs cannot be satisfied by the B737Max 10/A321/A321Neo - so the market will be tiny.

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