Boeing 717

The **Boeing 717** was designed and managed by John Wolf and Jim Phillips starting in 1996 as the MD-95 and became  a new twinjet airliner. It has two engines, which means that it is a twinjet. It also only has two columns of seats, which makes it a narrow-body plane. The Boeing 717 was designed and sold by McDonnell Douglas when it was called the **MD-95** and was designed from the DC-9. The 717 can hold up to 117 passengers. It can fly for . The 717 has two Rolls-Royce BR715 turbofan engines.

The first MD-95 was ordered in October 1995. Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997, which was before the first MD-95 was made. The first plane was finished in 1999, and it was called the Boeing 717. Boeing stopped making 717s in May 2006. 156 were made.

## Development
### Background
Douglas Aircraft made their DC-9 to fly with the DC-8 in the early 1960s. The DC-9 was a brand new design. It had two Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofan engines at the back of the plane and a small wing. The DC-9 first flew in 1965. Airlines began to use it later that year. 976 DC-9s were made.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series was finished in 1980. The MD-80 was the second family of DC-9. It was a longer version of the DC-9-50, and it had more fuel and new engines. Nearly 1,200 MD-80s were made from 1980 to 1999.

The MD-90 was designed from the MD-80 series. It first flew in 1993. The MD-90 was longer and had a glass cockpit. It also had new IAE V2525-D5 engines. Only 117 MD-90s were made.

### MD-95
In early 1994, the MD-95 was designed by McDonnell Douglas. The plane was  long and it had a wingspan of  span. McDonnell Douglas said that it thought the MD-95 would become a family of aircraft.

Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) decided to use the Boeing 737-600 instead of the MD-95 in March 1995. The ValuJet order was the only order for the MD-95 for two years.

### Engines
The MD-95 was supposed to have a type of JT8D-200 engine. It could also have had the Rolls-Royce Tay 670. McDonnell Douglas said that the MD-95 would not cost much to make, because it was so similar to the MD-90.

### Making
McDonnell Douglas was going to make all MD-95s in China. However, in 1994, McDonnell Douglas began to look for a cheap place to make the planes. Halla Group in South Korea was made the wings of the plane, Alenia of Italy made the fuselage, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. of Taiwan make the tail; and a part of Korea Air Lines made the nose and cockpit. many people thought that Boeing would cancel the MD-95. However, Boeing decided to keep making it, but call it something else: the Boeing 717. A United States Air Force plane was called the "717-100" and the airliner was called the "717-200". The lack of a widespread use of the 717 name left it available to rebrand the MD-95.

At first, Boeing was not very successful at selling the 717. The first Boeing 717s began to be made in May 1997.

A small Australian airline bought many 717s, but it was eventually merged with Qantas. This meant that Qantas had some 717s that it did not want.

However, Qantas soon saw that the 717 was quite good. It was bigger and faster than the BAe 146, which Qantas was using at the time. It was also cheaper to use. Many airlines which used the 717s, including Qantas, began to buy more. Qantas bought more 717s, as well as Hawaiian Airlines and Midwest Airlines.

 717-200 at Sydney Airport, Australia in 2005]]

The 717's main rivals are the Airbus A318 and the Embraer E-195.

### End of making
 717 at Kona International Airport, Hawaii in 2004.]]
In December 2003, Boeing lost a US$ 2.7 billion contract from Air Canada. Air Canada bought the Embraer E-Jets and Bombardier CRJ instead of the 717. In January 2005, Boeing said it would stop making the 717 after the last planes had been built.

The last 717 was finished in April 2006 for AirTran Airways. AirTran got the first and last 717. The last two Boeing 717s were for AirTran and Midwest Airlines. They were delivered on May 23, 2006.

McDonnell Douglas does not have airstairs at the back of the plane. This was done so that the plane would use less fuel.

## Different types of Boeing 717
In 1993, McDonnell Douglas wanted to make three types of 717 (MD-95):

### Types which were not made
**Boeing 717-100 (-100X)**: A smaller version with 86 seats. It was cancelled in 2003.

**Boeing 717-300X**: The other name for the MD-95-50. Delta Air Lines, Iberia and Northwest Airlines were said to be interested in this type.  Delta Air Lines got 88 717s from Southwest Airlines in 2013.

## Accidents
As of March 2009, the Boeing 717 has had five accidents. Nobody has died in these, and there have been no hull-loss accidents. A hull-loss accident is an accident where the plane is damaged so much that it cannot be repaired, or if the plane is completely destroyed.

## Details
 and different McDonnell Douglas MD-80 ]]

Sources: Boeing 717 Characteristics 717 Airport planning report Boeing 717 Specifications

## Orders and deliveries
### Orders
### Deliveries
## Related pages
## References
* Becher, Thomas. *Douglas Twinjets, DC-9, MD-80, MD-90 and Boeing 717*. The Crowood Press, 2002. .

## Other websites
*Boeing 717 web page
*Boeing 717 on Aircraft-Info.net 
*Boeing 717 profile on gizmohighway.com 
*717 List on plane-spotters.net