717 Has Everything, Boeing Says, Except New Customer By Chris Genna, Contributing Editor Farnborough, England ­ The widely rumored customer for Boeing's 717 was a no-show at the year's premier aerospace industry trade show, leaving Boeing to glumly acknowledge Tuesday that new orders for the short-range twinjet are unlikely for the next couple of months. The announcement, coming after widespread rumors of a big pending sale, only increased speculation that the customer was Northwest Airlines, and the deal fell through because the carrier has been grounded by a strike among its pilots. Rolf Sellge, Boeing's director of product marketing for the 717, acknowledged, "We'd all like to have a large order. Certainly a 50-plane order from Northwest or ILFC (International Lease Finance Corp.) would be great." But he said he'd be just as happy with small orders from five to 10 airlines. He predicted, "Within two months, youıre going to see this program gain momentum." Sellge said Boeing has made formal pitches to 19 airlines for 230 717s. So far, the company has only 55 firm orders for the twinjet, 5 from Bavaria Airlines and the original 50 from AirTran, formerly ValuJet, with options for 50 more. Yet Boeing's press briefing on the 717, which the company inherited as the MD-95 when it acquired McDonnell Douglas, was as upbeat as ever. The 717, Sellge said, combines the proven airframe of the DC-9 with completely updated systems, cockpit, and avionics. Itıs all-new BMW-Rolls Royce engines are the quietest, most fuel-efficient anywhere. And ­ most important considering his European audience at Farnborough, one-third of the plane is built in Europe. Boeingıs pitch was consistent with ads it bought in all the trade journals after the 717ıs first flight last week ­ a full-page photo of the 717 in flight with the caption "While our 100-seat jetliner has taken to the skies, theirs is parked right here" ­ with an inset photo of a waste-paper basket. Tuesday, Airbus Industrie announced it was going ahead with the A318, its own entry in the 100-seat jet market. But the Airbus, with a range of up to 3,000 nautical miles, is clearly aimed at the smallest next-generation 737, the ­600, rather than the 1,500-mile 717. The added range makes the Airbus 100-seater 18,000 pounds heavier at takeoff ­ an important consideration, Boeing says, in markets like Europe, where airlines are charged a penny per pound in landing fees. Sellge said the savings from operating the lighter, shorter-legged 717 could amount to $1.6 million per plane per year, based on eight to 10 flights per day, seven days a week. That number of flights is not unrealistic, Sellge said, when you consider that 80 percent of the flights of 90- to 120-seat airplanes cover 300 miles or less. Because the airlines want planes their pilots are already familiar with, Sellge said, the 717 makes far more sense for an airline that already operates a lot of Douglas DC-9s than for a carrier that operates a high percentage of 737s. Northwest has been viewed as a prime candidate for 717 purchases because it operates about 185 DC-9s, one-fifth of the aging DC-9s still in service.