Boeing’S 717 Having A Difficult Start

A lack of orders for Boeing’s new 717 jetliner has some questioning whether Boeing should give up on the model it inherited from McDonnell Douglas.

Boeing rolled out the 100-passenger, short-range jet in June. At the time, Boeing CEO Phil Condit said he wasn’t worried about the dearth of orders.

On Tuesday, Boeing’s European archrival Airbus Industrie announced it had won a tentative order from International Lease Finance Corp. for up to 30 A318s, the plane it is developing to compete with the 717.

With a small market, Boeing may be hard-pressed to compete with Airbus, according to Richard Aboulafia, AN analyst with the Teal Group, an influential aerospace market research firm.