The Boeing 717 is a twin-engined airliner that was produced by Boeing until 2006. It traces its origins back to the McDonnell Douglas MD80, which in turn can trace its roots back to the McDonnell Douglas DC9. Originally called the ‘MD95’, the rebranded 717 represented Boeing’s attempt to update their rear-engined twin jet for the 100 seat market following their merger with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Around 156 aircraft were built in total, with the most prolific operators being Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, AirTran, and Qantas Link. As part of a wider fleet renewal strategy, Qantas are retiring VH-NXI, one of its older 717 aircraft. We believe the aircraft will make a long-distance redelivery flight to a destination in North America. Whilst that’s a distance of over 9070 nautical miles by the shortest route, the range of the small aircraft will likely require a less direct routing with a significant number of sectors.
Where has VH-NXI been so far?
The retirement of the aircraft, named ‘Blue Mountains’, marks the first Australian registered Boeing 717 to leave service. The aircraft holds a special place in the airline’s history having operated Jetstar‘s first flight between Melbourne and Launceston in 2004. The aircraft appears to have completed the first 5 legs of its epic journey as of June 18 2023, traveling via the Philippines and Japan. All of these have been operated under the flight number SXI2341
- Canberra (CBR) to Alice Springs (ASP) – June 16
- Alice Springs to Darwin (DRW) – June 16
- Darwin to Cebu (CEB) – June 17
- Cebu to Nagoya (NGO) – June 18
- Nagoya to Sapporo (CTS) – June 18
The best way to track Blue Mountains’ epic journey is using alerts in Flightradar24. Open ‘Alerts’ in the bottom toolbar of your app and create a custom ‘Flight’ alert for the callsign SXI2341.
Why are airlines like Qantas replacing the Boeing 717?
In a world of squeezed margins and a renewed focus on sustainability, older aircraft such as the 717 find themselves completely outclassed by new generation aircraft such as the Airbus A220. These newer jets offer significant savings on fuel and CO2 emissions, higher capacity, and are more cost effective on regional and short haul sectors. The Qantas fleet is no exception, with the carrier recently ordering a mix of Airbus A220 and Airbus A320neo family aircraft to replace its 717 and 737NG fleet. The Airbus A220 will be deployed on their short but popular sectors between Canberra and Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.
According to aircraft carbon emissions data from IBA, swapping out the Boeing 717 for the A220 will effectively reduce Qantas’ CO2 emissions by around 30% on these routes. On the shorter Sydney to Canberra route, the savings could be up to 40%.
| Boeing 717-200 | Airbus A220-300 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route | CO2 per kilometer (grams) | CO2 per Available Seat Kilometer (grams) | CO2 per kilometer (grams) | CO2 per Available Seat Kilometer (grams) |
| BNE – SYD | 14,114 | 124.9 | 10,445 | 74.3 |
| MEL – CBR | 20,798 | 187.8 | 14,907 | 104.93 |
Source: IBA NetZero
As the Airbus A220-300 is yet to enter service with Qantas, these emissions figures for the A220-300 are based on global weighted average performance of aircraft type on medium (BNE-SYD) and short (MEL-CBR, SYD-CBR) sectors. You can find explanations of ‘CO2 per kilometer ‘and ‘Available Seat Kilometers’ in our glossary.