On 26.10.2024. Qantas Group marks the end of an era with the last remaining QantasLink Boeing 717 jet taking passengers to Australian skies for the final time.
The final flight (QF1511) landed in Canberra at approximately 18:00 operated by a crew with a long and proud history operating this aircraft and more than 100 years combined experience flying the 717 in Australia. The flights were flown on ‘Great Otway National Park’ (registration VH-YQS) between Sydney, Launceston and Canberra. After completing more than 15,000 flights, over 17,000 flight hours and safely carrying more than one million customers for QantasLink over almost 11 years, Great Otway National Park will spend the next few weeks on the ground in Canberra ahead of its retirement in November.
The 717s have flown for QantasLink and Jetstar for more than 20 years. QantasLink is one of the last three commercial airlines in the world to operate the Boeing 717 aircraft, which were popular for their ability to deliver on high-frequency short to medium routes and serve smaller ports, while carrying around 100 passengers, tapping into a gap in the market for this size aircraft.
Following more than two decades of service in the Qantas Group, connecting Australian capital cities and regional hubs and supporting the resource sector in the West, the fleet of 20 QantasLink 717 aircraft are being replaced by 29 new fuel-efficient Airbus A220s, as part of the Qantas Group’s fleet renewal program, which will reshape its domestic and regional network over the next decade and beyond.
History of the 717 Fleet
The 717 is a twin-engine jet first marketed by McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s as the MD-95, until the company merged with Boeing in August 1997. It was affectionately known as Mad Dog due to its MD initials, its power and the noise made by its engines. 156 Boeing 717s were produced with YQW, The Tassie Devil, the last 717 to be built at Boeing’s Long Beach assembly facility in California in 2006. The 717 aircraft first came into Qantas when the Group acquired Impulse Airways in 2001 flying for QantasLink. 14 of 717 fleet were converted to support the launch of Jetstar in May 2004 before moving back into QantasLink.