BOEING 717 AIRCRAFT HISTORY, FACTS AND PICTURES

The twinjet Boeing 717 is Boeing Commercial Airplanes smallest commercial airliner. It entered service in September 1999, making it one of the newest airliners on the market, and yet one of the oldest - the 717 is a renamed McDonnell Douglas MD-95, which itself was based on the venerable Douglas DC-9 that first flew in 1965. On January 14, 2005, the Boeing Company announced that it will discontinue production of the 717 in 2006. This will end the long history of McDonnell Douglas commercial aircraft in Long Beach, CA.

Boeing had apparently skipped the "717" model designation when the 727 became the airliner which followed the 707. But "717" had, in fact, been used by the company to refer to the military version of the 707, which the U.S. Air Force redesignated the KC-135 Stratotanker. This left "717" available until the MD-95 was rebranded.