wrote in message
om...
"Clark W. Griswold, Jr."wrote

Was Spirit looking at 717s? If so, this decision combined with
Star Alliance rejecting the 717 may finally kill the 717 off.

The DC9 is an old design. Name changes cannot hide that.

The DC9 is also a good aircraft, IMHO. While older, if properly maintained
and re-built as NWA has done with the DC-9, they can last a very long time.
I fly the -9 on a regular basis out of my home airport when flying NWA, and
on other routes such as DTW-JFK, DTW-ORD, etc, on a regular basis.

For some reason, the DC-9 seems to get a bad rap and I know of people who
will avoid them (and other planes) because of their age. Many people get
the impression they're either not safe or reliable because they're old.
Ironically, I have only had one mechanical cancellation on the -9 in the
past couple of years -- as far as mechanical delays, I have had more
mechanicals with A320's than the DC-9 over the past year alone. As a
frequent NWA flyer, I fly on a lot of -9's, A320s, and some 757s -- but most
domestic routes I fly are either -9 or A319/320 operated. Typically the -9
on the short hops and the A320 for the longer flights with an occassional
757 in the mix.

As far as the general design used by the DC-9 / MD-80 / 717, I like it from
a passenger standpoint for short to medium range US domestic trips. A lot
better than a CRJ, an extended CRJ, ERJ, or other regional jet (with the
exception of the ARJ/RJ-85, which is great in a low density config with a FC
cabin as Mesaba operates).

Regards,

Steve