O N T O U R: Boeing”s Other Short Haul Contender
One aircraft that has been around for close on 40 years, but will not actually be on display, could be the talking point of the Paris Air Show, which opens to the aviation industry today. The Boeing 717 started life as the Douglas DC9, then joined McDonnell to become the MD 80 series and finally emerged as the Boeing 717-200 when the commercial aircraft division of McDonnell Douglas, including its assembly plant at Long Beach, Los Angeles south, was taken over by Boeing in 1995.
The Star Alliance airlines are known to be talking to Boeing with regard to updating their short haul fleets to a common standard, with the 717 as a front runner. They want an aircraft in the 100/120 passenger range. Whilst it is unlikely that Star itself will order, a joint commitment, by say Lufthansa and SAS, would be a significant step forward in the aircraft selling world and a clear demonstration of the strength of the alliance. A 100 aircraft order, to a single specification, makes much more sense than two of 50, each slightly different and yet another team to negotiate. Once the breakthrough has been made other airlines in the grouping might also order with an advance price knowledge and specification. An enormous amount of time and energy could be saved.
To date some 2,400 DC9”s and its descendents have been built, including 120 Boeing 717. A backlog of 36 aircraft remain. Whilst it looks more or less the same as Donald Douglas jnr DC9 project of 1963, that aircraft and today”s Boeing 717 have little in common. Unlike a motor car you can”t take an aircraft back to a fancy design studio to change the external shape. The current Boeing has Rolls-Royce Deutschland engines that easily meet new stage 4 requirements, the cabin and flight deck layouts are totally new and, perhaps most important of all, 40% of the aircraft comes from Europe. It”s chances of winning the order must be good.
In one way the Boeing 717 (and its predecessors) really does score over all its competitors. With two rear engines and a two plus three cabin layout it is without doubt the quietest and most comfortable of the modern jets, particularly in economy class, the two seats on the port side ideal for people travelling as a pair. On the other side of the aisle is a standard three seat layout which can be converted to give a 2 + 2 business class layout. Having started life as a 90-seat aircraft it has grown to its current size. It could be stretched further to offer 140 all economy seating for delivery in 2006. Competition comes from the slow selling Boeing 737-600 and the equally disappointing, sales-wise, Airbus A318. Any further stretch of the Embraer 170/190 series would seem a long way off.
Boeing says that whilst the aircraft is optimised for around the 500 mile range it is capable of operating a 3,000 mile sector. A business jet version is also on offer, many elderly (and relatively noisy) DC9”s, used by American corporations and sports teams.
In one way the 717 is different from most other aircraft. It is built on a moving production line. But don”t get too excited. The ”movement” is about .5 inches per minute, or in these metric times, well under a metre an hour. Engineers can make a ”visit” and still find their aircraft when they get back. The system, which was introduced progressively is now fully operational, has reduced the assembly process by 50%. The 757 and 737 now use similar systems.
The launch customer, AirTran Airways of Orlando, Fla, took delivery of the first 717 in September 1999 and now operates 51. Midwest earlier this year accepted the first of a 25 aircraft order and as reported recently Turkmenistan Airlines is to add a further two Boeing 717-200 aircraft, bringing its fleet up to five. Other customers take in Aerolineas Baleares, Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing Co, Hawaiian Airlines, Pembroke Capital Leasing Ltd. Operators via lease include Bangkok Airways, QantasLink (Impulse Airlines) and Olympic Aviation, and American Airlines using former TWA aircraft.
At the end of the day the success or failure of the 717 will depend on economics. It is a proven aircraft with a fine track record. The operators are familiar with its overheads and no doubt have been approached by others who might join the 717 club. Boeing are very aware of how much it costs to build, as are its suppliers. It is going to be a very interesting few months. The future of Long Beach depends on what happens.
A LOOK AT HISTORY
The Boeing 117 lineage is interesting and perhaps controversial. In some ways it goes back to the 1940”s with the De Havilland Comet, an aircraft with considerable input into the novel rear engined Sud Aviation Caravelle. In the 1950s the British Hunting company also developed an aircraft with the engines hung on at the back, emerging as the successful BAC 1-11, which first flew in 1963 at the same time as Douglas was developing the DC9, the concept from which the Boeing 117 evolved. Who knows how much of the 1-11 went into the DC9, both aircraft having ventral passenger doors at the rear, a popular feature in the days before air bridges? That is one aspect of the DC9 that the Boeing 717 is without! DC9 v BAC 1-11. There is only one winner. top