The Boeing 717 of regional carrier Qantas Link is currently on a round-the-world flight and will eventually end up in the Victorville Aircraft Graveyard. A direct flight between Australia and the southern California desert exceeds the 717's maximum range of 2900 km, so refueling stops are scheduled along the way.
Officially, this “Boeing” with registration number VH-YQV is listed “in storage”, but this did not prevent him from regularly flying between Canberra and Melbourne on behalf of Qantas Link. Finally, on April 18, it landed at Broome in Western Australia in preparation for the long flight to California.
The plane has since visited Surabaya in Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Bangalore in India, Al Ain in the UAE, Hurghada in Egypt, Sofia in Bulgaria and Stavanger in Norway. Finally, by Monday, April 24, he reached the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, and will make a couple more stops on the way to Victorville.
Upon arrival in California, the 717 will be dismantled and used for spare parts to help keep Delta's existing fleet of 60 operational Boeing 717s operational. th in 2006. By the way, the project is considered a failure — Boeing received a total of 156 orders for this model.
Currently, such Boeings operated only by Delta, Hawaiian Airlines and Qantas through its regional subsidiary Qantas Link.
Both Delta and Qantas are replacing their 717s with Airbus A220s, but Qantas has a tighter schedule and the Sydney-based carrier plans to take delivery of the first A220 as early as the second half of 2023.
Qantas has placed firm orders for 20 Airbus A321XLRs and 20 A220-300s to replace its fleet of 717s and aging 737s.
The new aircraft will be the backbone of the Qantas regional fleet for the next 20 years. Their increased range and economy will open up the possibility of launching new routes that were previously impossible.
