Aviation watchdog JonNYC confirms a rumor posted to Airliners.net that Delta is going to be retiring some Boeing 717s. Basically, as these six planes come up for their ‘heavy checks’ the airline has decided not to spend the money on the aircraft.
I believe those ships correspond to N943AT – N948AT
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) June 21, 2026
Delta has 80 Boeing 717s with an average age of 24.5 years. They feature:
- 110 seats: 12 First, 25 Comfort+, 73 Main Cabin and 2–3 seating in economy
- No seatback entertainment, only some have wifi (transition from old Gogo air to ground to Hughes)
These planes largely came from Southwest Airlines which inherited them when it acquired AirTran. They agreed to lease all 88 at the time to Delta, with the first converted aircraft reaching Delta in 2013. Southwest agreed to pay the majority of the costs to reconfigure the interiors, repaint the planes, and do maintenance checks before delivery recording a $140 million charge (though Boeing may have picked up $40 million of it).
Delta later added some 717s from Blue1. Currently, 717s are flown by Delta and 19 by Alaska Airlines (Hawaiian). QantasLink retired its final 717 in December 2024, replacing its fleet of 20 with Airbus A220s.
The challenge with these aircraft isn’t age as such. Delta operates many older planes than this! But it hasn’t been produced in 20 years, only 156 were ever built, and it had an exclusive engine (Rolls-Royce BR715, Delta TechOps has its own BR715 engine capability). There’s a limited parts, overhaul and vendor ecosystem and newer planes are much better on fuel consumption and range.
Heavy checks are divided into “C” and “D” checks based on time, hours, flight cycles, structural sampling and airworthiness directives and service bulletins. An AirTran 717 C-check interval runs usually around 4,500 flight hours or 18 months, with an average visit of about three days when the aircraft were relatively young. Aging aircraft will have different intervals.
A major structural check for aging aircraft is going to be more along the lines of six to twelve years, though I’m not familiar with Delta’s specific program for the 717 but would cost several million dollars per aircraft for non-routine structural work, corrosion, landing gear, engines and cabin work. But the real cost is work identified as needed during the check itself. And these are planes worth very little on the resale market.
A fully depreciated 717 can be extremely cheap until its next heavy maintenance, but investing heavily for another maintenance cycle may be too costly to make sense. I do wonder whether Delta retirements could help Alaska Airlines extend the life of their 717 fleet with used engine and other parts availability, since they’re reportedly looking at replacing those planes with 737-800s – which gives them fleet commonality but means more capacity on each plane; likely fewer frequencies; and therefore giving up an advantage over Southwest Airlines in the intra-island market where these operate.
This was originally posted here but a user with some credibility that apparently shared this item that turns out to be true, so it’s notable that they also write that “on the heels of that, possibly an order of smaller narrowbody gauge either 320 or Max 8s.”
Delta’s currently has 258 firm commitments in its order book
- 62 Airbus A220-300s (717/A319 replacement, upgauge regional jets, growth)
- 96 Airbus A321neos and 36 options (older narrowbody replacement)
- 100 Boeing 737 MAX 10s and 30 options (replacement and growth)
With an average age of 29.3 years for Delta’s Airbus A320s and an A319 fleet just as old as the 717s (although these planes may fly longer than the 717s), these fleets along with older 737-800s are as important as the 717 to decisions around an Airbus A320neo or 737 MAX 8 order.
Either aircraft would fill the middle between Delta’s 130-seat A220-300 and its much larger A321neo/MAX 10 fleets. It would be more naturally aimed at replacing A320ceos and 737-800s than at replacing 110-seat 717s directly.
Replacing 717s would probably mean some larger A220-300s, some reassignment of comparable A220-100s and Airbus A319s, and fewer frequencies in some markets.
Ultimately, the 717 was a good aircraft with poor commercial timing. It was the McDonnell Douglas MD-95, the final development of the DC-9 family. Boeing inherited it in the McDonnell Douglas merger and renamed it the 717. It shared little operational commonality with the 737 family and so was an orphan program within Boeing. It lacked pilot training and maintenance commonality with other planes in the market, had limited range, and it was a terrible time to sell planes around 2002.
I would assume that retiring Boeing 717s as they approach heavy maintenance could actually put off the immediate need for an aircraft order since they’ll be able to part out these planes to extend the life of the remaining fleet. It seems like progress on Hughes wifi installs will be a tell here. I’d expect tails with the new system to stay around longer, unless Delta simply made a poor decision there that they’re doing a 180 on.
This one makes sense, the A220 fleet can go coast-to-coast in style on long/thin domestic & short routes versus the dreaded Premium middle seat on any of DLs existing (dated) narrow body fleet. Heck, even the middle seat in coach is 19″ which is the basically the same as its ancient 757 business seat (20″)…
Is that “insider”… our very own, Tim Dunn, who’s been saying this for months on here…?
Not sad about this. The 717s are noisy and uncomfortable. I dislike the cramped A220s (they should be 1-2 in F) but they still beat these glorified DC-9s in every other respect.
YEARS of our very own, sTD, saying the 717 wifi upgrades were coming and back online… his believe in Delta’s supply chain efforts for that wifi were unfailing… even more optimistic than Delta’s own public statements on the topic and marketing team missives.
It’ll be nice that he won’t have to keep making things up about the delta plane that destroys any semblance of delta product “consistency”
yes, 1990, I have been tracking wiht the 717 status and there really isn’t any breaking news here.
Max, I have also said that these planes will get WiFi starting this fall. DL will have WiFi across its entire fleet and all geographies long before any of the big 4 does.
Not all of the fleet will be retired in the near future. As DL has demonstrated successfully many times, they retire enough planes – 6-10 to provide parts for the remaining fleet and stop doing overhauls – but some of the planes still have 2-3 years of service left based on the overhauls they have had.
As for the replacement aircraft, the 717s work best on short haul flights – up to 2 hours; aircraft such as the A220 are powered by new generation engines like the A321NEOs and MAX10s which DL will have in its fleet by this time next year.
Although DL has upgauged more successfully than AA or UA, DL wants and needs an airplane smaller than 150 seats for short haul segments. The 223s will cover longer 319 flights and the 319s will replace 717s. Some 717/319/223 flights can support upgauging.
A new order for either the MAX 8 or 320NEO is not related to the 717s but rather the continued drawdown of the 757 for which there is no direct replacement in terms of size and performance.
It is related to the fact that DL along w/ AA and UA have enough routes that need a high performance narrowbody and neither the MAX 10 or 321NEO can do what the 757 does now.
the MAX 8 probably has the edge and Boeing would love to have even more of DL’s business now that they are increasingly becoming a reliable supplier of 737s.
and DL originally planned to retire the 717s during covid but changed their mind w/ the post covid recovery – so any retirement decision is not new.
The entire 717 fleet will likely be gone by 2029-2030 which is in line with what DL said during covid when it decided to keep them.
and the 717 is a unique pilot workgroup so getting rid of the 717s helps improve pilot efficiency.
I have a great affection for the DC9/MD80/B717, as my first flight was on a DC9, and I’ve had a lot of hours on the family. The downside is the lack of screens and the narrow F seats (5 Y becomes 4 F, so you get 25% more space, where the other non-220 narrowbodies get a 50% boost).
I could care less about the hard product here. My issue is the wi-fi. No. Just no. Nope.
just a reminder that the 717s at DL predominantly compete with RJs at other airlines; DL has a couple hundred less RJs than AA or UA.
and no RJs in the US have AVOD.
The 717s have a 2 antenna solution so they will get high earth and low earth coverage via Hughes. DL previously said they would continue installing WiFi on the 717s this fall. With a half dozen fewer 717s, the installation process should go even faster.
DL will beat AA and UA with free high speed WiFi across its full fleet and around the world.
Too bad these T-tails are up for retirement. I disagree about noise. Up front they are very quiet and it’s a thrill to take off in them, almost like a glider with rockets.
While these came from AirTran/Southwest, making them work is a legacy of the Northwest Airlines management that took over much of Delta.
“just a reminder that the 717s at DL predominantly compete with RJs at other airlines; DL has a couple hundred less RJs than AA or UA.”
They don’t. They compete with every other mainline plane at DL, UA, and AA since that’s what they are — mainline delta-metal aircraft.
And I still love your optimism for Delta’s wifi goals — you dogmatically say
“DL will have WiFi across its entire fleet and all geographies long before any of the big 4 does.”
Except that AA already has wifi across their fleet and has for years now (I’ll fully admit the E145s don’t though), and UA will fully have free starlink wifi on every plane by the end of 2027. I don’t think Delta will beat that no matter how much you pray
Give us a link that supports any of your hopes and dreams about the 717s having free high speed wifi by the end of the year, Tim.
yes, Max DL’s 717s most certainly do serve small and medium sized cities which AA and UA often serve w/ regional jets and DL may use RJs from other hubs.
DL has no small RJs at all so even with the 717s, DL has a higher percentage of total aircraft w/ AVOD
and while you focus on the 717s, you hypocritically ignore the hundreds of DL TATL and LATAM flights that have free WiFi on them; no other airline comes close to matching that level of global coverage and certainly not AA or UA. DL is not through.
AA DOES NOT OFFER free high speed WiFI, max and you know it. Their Panasonic equipped aircraft don’t even work.
I will take you to lunch if DL is not the US first carrier with full fleetwide and global free WiFi. Will you accept the bet and do it for me? I am certain that Gary will gladly exchange the gift cards.
@Mike Hunt — Other than the P&W issues, a220 are a far superior passenger experience for everyone except First Class, because, yes, narrower yet still 2-2. The 2-3 in back, better technology, larger windows, more efficient engines (if they don’t have defects) all superior to most other mid-size options. So, I still think it’s an awesome aircraft, and just wish Airbus had gone with multiple engine manufacturers, because then it wouldn’t have become such a liability for airlines like B6, DL, Swiss, etc.
1990
the A220 was designed and originally built by Bombardier as the C Series who made the decision to exclusively power it with the Geared Turbofan which is also the only engine on the Embraer E2 jets. Airbus bought it when Boeing tried to shut down the C Series and Bombardier needed a US manufacturing facility which Airbus had and still has at Mobile for the A320 and A220
Parker clearly has not been in the rear lav on the A220 which has a window in it.
and the latest report is that all DL A220s are in service. DL is the only authorized airline overhaul facility for the GTF in the Americas so has had less downtime with its A220 and 321NEO fleets than other airlines. Not 0 but better than many airlines.
@Tim Dunn: You said “DL will have WiFi across its entire fleet and all geographies long before any of the big 4 does.”
Please remember you said this – your confidence is admirable, but your consistency and follow-up regarding past assertions is sometimes lacking. Time will tell if you are right or not.
United says they will get about 400 more Starlink installs done this year, leaving about 300 NB and about 230 WB to go. Getting done by the end of 2027 might just work out. Southwest is trying to get their 737s done before United does, meaning a “big 4” might get there sooner than you thought.
So what did you mean, Tim? Just “WiFi” fleetwide? United has WiFi on all it’s planes already – but the WB planes have some of the oldest and least reliable WiFi in use. So doesn’t United already have full WiFi (including the Pacific) that Delta doesn’t have? So, did you mean “High Speed” WiFi? And what’s the definition of “high speed”? Is there a certain speed? Somehow, Delta’s Viasat qualifies as “high speed” but other airlines that use Viasat do not, according to some of your past posts. So, do you mean fleet-wide “FREE” WiFi? That is another qualifier we could use, but you didn’t say that. And the conditional “all geographies”? Can that ever be met? China blocks Starlink – so can any airline really have complete coverage everywhere served? Besides, Delta has a big hole over the pacific right now that one Viasat launch will not fix. So does Delta have to cover the whole Pacific before they qualify as “all geographies”? Finally, do the express flights also count? Delta has a lot of Express planes flying without Wifi.
I’m asking sincerely, because I’ll give you credit if you are right, but not if you have to use some narrow, hyper-specific qualifiers just to make yourself appear right that you didn’t start with. But as things sit now, Delta isn’t on track to meet your claim, and some things they must depend on to get full coverage (Viasat launches) is completely out of their control.
“AA DOES NOT OFFER free high speed WiFI, max and you know it. Their Panasonic equipped aircraft don’t even work.”
lol. you are an endless drum that doesn’t quit, sTD…
they do. and they do domestically — something Delta can’t do across their domestic fleet.
Delta doesn’t offer free wifi across their fleet — they have never done so. AA doesn’t yet on the Panasonic birds — but hey, at least AA has had ANY wifi across their global network for years now — Delta has NEVER had wifi across the Pacific — a fact that seems like a relic of 2015 to AA and UA flyers…
We’re all looking for faster international wifi — Delta has decided to wait for it for years but they’ve also NEVER had wifi globally while their competitors have. Delta has also decided to wait for better wifi with an unproven new LEO provider that doesnt’ even attempt to claim that they’ll be better than starlink 😉
it hurts, but try using data when you talk to me. It’ll help you look less dumb.
the only one that endlessly drones on is you with your lies.
DL handedly beats every other global airline and esp. AA and UA in global coverage right now. No one has full global coverage on every fleet but DL will have full free global WiFi across all their fleets.
you can and certainly will argue because you can’t stand that DL and I am right but it only proves why you won’t accept the bet
there will be 717s here with Hughes WiFi well into 2027 and beyond. some of the fleet will be retired.
“just a reminder that the 717s at DL predominantly compete with RJs at other airlines” Case it point, my last 717 was MOB-ATL. The MOB n/s options are ATL, CLT, DFW, IAD, and IAH. The only non-RJ you can board there is DL’s 717, which operates 3 of 5 ATL routes today.
Tim
‘DL handedly beats every other global airline and esp. AA and UA in global coverage right now.’
I think you should drop the ‘other’ in ‘other global’ since Delta is only global by the same standard by which Skypesos are a valuable currency
@Tim Dunn — Yes, Bombardier forced Airbus hands on the GTF. And, kudos to Delta’s in-house MRO, because they’re doing far better than other carriers managing this issue. That said, the limited supply chain is still an operational risk. Not fun or profitable to have airframes just sitting there, waiting.