..or the B757, or the MD-11…:rolleyes:
The 717 and ’11 never lived up to promises and where not that popular with the airlines either. By the time they closed the line there were no sales and due to the crappy economy back then no orders could be expected. Since Boeing already had planes in that market range (B736, B763/B772) there really was no reason to keep the line open.
Notice how few of the original B717 operators still got them. Most of them have retired them or scaled back their operations. The MD-11 is much the same. I think KLM i snow the only passenger airline, with perhaps Finnair having one or two pending the delivery of their new Airbusses. Only cargo operators are happy with the MD-11.
The B752 line was very popular. But there where no orders and the economy was in the crapper. It is prohibitively expensive to keep the production line in slumber-mode waiting for the economy to pick up again. In retrospect you could argue they could have made a few dozen white-tails but even that would have been a mayor financial risk.
I would not be surprised if the B767 joined the B717, MD-11 and B757 before the years over. Now the USAF tanker project has been shelved there really is not need for it anymore. The few that where sold the last 2 year where sold at heavy discount just to keep the line open, or where used as compensation for the B787 delays.
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