Boeing 717 - A Legacy

2021 was the last year of operation for Himmelbahn's venerable fleet of Boeing 717s. In 1995, when Himmelbahn first ordered the MD-95, few would have guessed that the aircrafts would be delivered as the 717. Perhaps more predictable in 95 was that the MD95 would be the last DC-9 variant Himmelbahn operated. Himmelbahn had been an early operator the Douglas DC-9. In the late 1970s, these DC-9s were replaced by a sea of MD-80s. However, Airbus's entry to the narrow body market caused intense government pressure for Germany's national airline to operate a large fleet of planes built partially in Germany. Himmelbahn's previous administration, which had largely spurned the A300 and A310 in favour of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas jets, saw some changes in the mid 80s and lost its will to oppose government pressure to buy the A320. The last order made by Himmelbahn for an MD-80 series aircraft occurred in 1985 and after that date many industry analysts predicted that the carrier would never order another narrowbody from MD.
They were almost correct. However, the A320 family did not feature an aircraft small enough to operate on Himmelbahn's network of short range village hops. The village hopping services, though not wildly popular, had been some of the basis for Himmelbahn's creation and executives believed that they still acted as an important part of the overall Himmelbahn network. However, the fleet of early DC-9s which plied these routes was becoming obsolete. Airbus had no offering to cover these flights, but by the mid 90s McDonnell Douglas was developing an aircraft specifically designed to replace these aircraft. A deal was struck and despite turbulence at McDonnell Douglas, the newly christened 717s were delivered in 2000. The aircraft proved to be reliable workhorses and despite their role as a relatively small chunk of Himmelbahn's fleet, they made an impact. The type were delivered in the twilight of the Grauvogel years and spent most of their years flying as candybirds before finally receiving the carrier's most modern livery in 2018.
However, the 717 would not operate for as long as its predecessor. Elements of the German government had targeted Himmelbahn's village hopping services as environmentally wasteful as early as 2017, but it was only in 2019 that these elements garnered serious traction. The government attempted to convince Himmelbahn to cancel the routes to force travelers to take greener modes of transportation shorter distances between smaller cities. They were unsuccessful; the airline was private at this point and village hopping turned a profit. An act passed late in 2019 sought to end village hopping service once and for all by mandating a 30% special carbon tax on all short distance domestic flights in Germany where an alternative rail journey to travel the same route would not take more than quadruple the scheduled time of a flight. The act was a successfully calculated way to make Himmelbahn's villlage hopping service unprofitable. Shortly after the bill passed, Himmelbahn announced that it would cancel all effected routes and retire the 717 at the end of 2021, the date at which the act's provisions became law. Thus, on December 31, 2021, Himmelbahn's 15 717s took to the skies for the last flight. The last commercial flight operated by a Himmelbahn 717 was flown by the first 717 the carrier had received back in 1995. The aircraft, named after the small village of Wismar, had valiantly served small communities for 26 years. Farewell ceremonies for the small workhorses were subdued and when the sun rose on 2022, it rose to a world where Himmelbahn's 717s were sold off the other carriers and many small airports lost their flights.