Boeing may quit making 717s

http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2000663,00.html#


Saturday, March 06, 2004 - The Boeing Co. has told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it is prepared to take a $400 million charge off if sales campaigns for its Long Beach-built 717 passenger jet sputter and forces it to shut down production.

The 717 program has spiraled downward in popularity, dropping from 49 deliveries in 2001 to just 13 last year, and an unidentified "major sales campaign'' was lost in late 2003, "increasing the possibility of program termination,'' according to an annual SEC filing posted late Thursday.

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The problem is the 717 has cheaper-priced competitors that offer the same elements as the Boeing aircraft, Aboulafia said.

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Last year, Air Canada opted to buy regional jets rather than the 717, hurting the plane's chances. Boeing has also been courting the so-called Star Alliance, a consortium of airlines that include Air Canada, and China as a potential 717 buyer.

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Boeing won congressional approval last fall for a contract under which it would lease and sell 100 767 jets to the Air Force for use as refueling tankers. But it was put on hold amid questions about ethical issues surrounding the way Boeing pursued the deal, particularly after the company fired two senior executives for alleged improprieties during the lobbying phase.

(snip)

The Boeing 717 is just a renamed version of the old Douglas DC-9, later known as the McDonnell Douglas MD-80/MD-82 etc., correct?

An outmoded design; most airlines prefer the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 instead.

The MD 80s got longer and longer, but that not what the airlines wanted. 737 filled that gap.

range flying to their "regional airline partners" for a while now.The 717 (the updated DC9) competes with these "regional jets", made by Canadair and Embraer, These RJ's are very narrow, noisy and uncomfortable with few, if any amenities. They can however, fly 2100 miles in about the same time as a bigger jet. They are also operated by pilots and flight attendants who make a whole lot less than traditional airline employees.

The majors like the RJ's so much that they actually buy them for their airlinks to operate. If you fly much at all, you can expect to start spending three or four hours in these things where you can't even stand up due to headroom issues.

with the Pentagram. Oops, sorry--the Pentagon.

:evilgrin:
dbt

(and these would have been the tankers that would have been used to make more chemtrails over Amerikkka.)