The announcement is dry and concise, which appeared yesterday morning on the social media, Qantas account: "Goodbye to the Boeing 717. Yesterday was the last commercial connection for the 717 operated by QantasLink, flight QF1511 from Sydney to Canberra, flying over the 'Great Otway National Park' (VH-YQS). The aircraft has completed more than 15,000 flights, almost 17,000 flight hours, and has safely carried more than one million passengers in the last 11 years. The 717 has been flying in Australia for more than 20 years and will now be gradually replaced by new generation Airbus A-220 aircraft".

“The aircraft will spend the next few weeks grounded in Canberra before its final retirement in November", the airline said in a statement hours later. QantasLink is one of the last three commercial airlines in the world to operate the Boeing 717, a plane prized for its ability to operate short to medium-sized routes at high frequencies and serve smaller airports, carrying around 100 passengers and filling a gap in the market for aircraft of this size. After more than two decades of service across the Qantas Group, connecting Australian capital cities and regional hubs and supporting the resources sector in the West, QantasLink’s fleet of 20 B-717s has been replaced by 29 new, fuel-efficient Airbus A-220s as part of the Qantas Group’s fleet renewal programme, which will reshape its domestic and regional network for the next decade and beyond.

In addition to the four A-220s already in service with QantasLink, the next A-220 to arrive will be the Tasmanian Devil and is expected to enter service later this year. Rachel Yangoyan, QantasLink Chief Executive, said: "Today marks a significant moment in Australian aviation as the iconic 'T' tail of the -717 has taken passengers to Australian skies for the last time. The -717 has a long history in the Qantas and Jetstar fleet. Since helping launch Jetstar's first flights in 2004, they have served major cities, regional towns and the mining sector in the West as part of QantasLink for more than 20 years".

The -717 is a twin-engine jet aircraft first marketed by McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s as the MD-95, until the company's merger with Boeing in August 1997. It was affectionately known as the Mad Dog due to its MD initials, its power output and the noise its engines made. The model entered the Qantas fleet when the Group acquired Impulse Airways in 2001 (which owned 8 of the model), to form the basis of the new regional airline QantasLink. 14 of the -717s in the fleet were converted to support the launch of Jetstar in May 2004, before returning to QantasLink.