=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2005/01/14/f= inancial0518EST0021.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, January 14, 2005 (AP) Boeing to end production of its 717 passenger jet next year (01-14) 02:43 PST LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Boeing Co. will end production of the 717 jet, its smallest passenger plane, sometime next year, company representatives said. The aerospace company has orders for 18 more of the 106-seat jets, and will shut down the Long Beach assembly plant that makes them in May 2006 or several months thereafter, said Steve Chesser, Boeing's manager of government and community relations in Long Beach. Airlines looking for short-haul planes have in recent years purchased le= ss expensive 50- to 90-seat jets from competitors of the Chicago-based company. "The projected demand for our airplane will not sustain a profitable production line," Pat McKenna, vice president and general manager of the 717 program, told workers in a memo obtained Thursday by the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The first 717 entered service with AirTran Airways in 1999, and more than 130 of the jets have been delivered to customers including Hawaiian Airlines and Midwest Airlines. The program took a blow when Air Canada decided in December 2003 not to buy the plane. Officials had hoped an order would lead to sales among other members of the Star Alliance, a group of North American and European airlines. Mike Boyd, an airline industry analyst with The Boyd Group in Evergreen, Colo., said elimination of the plane was "sort of expected. It's a difficult plane to sell." After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Boeing slowed production of the 717 to one a month to wait out a slow market. Thirteen models were sold in 2003 and 12 last year. Despite accompanying layoffs, Boeing remains Long Beach's largest private employer. More than 10,000 people produce the C-17 military cargo plane and do other commercial jet work at various plants near the city's airport. On the Net: www.boeing.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005 AP