When looking at some of the Boeing 717-200 aircraft built you will find that the jets have a different model number then the 717-200. The last three digits in 717-200 are not "200", however 231 or some other number. This is due to Boeing's customer code numbering system, that Boeing is now phasing out. Boeing assigned a two digit alphanumeric customer code for each airline that ordered a jet from them. A common code to find for the Boeing 717 is the Boeing 717-231 version of the airplane. Boeing 717-231 references the 717s that Trans World Airlines or TWA ordered before it merged with American Airlines. "31" is TWA's customer code. The TWA Boeing 717-231 was first ordered by Trans World Airlines on December 9th, 1999. On that day the airline ordered 50 Boeing 717-231s with options for an additional 50. TWA took delivery of the first TWA Boeing 717-200 jets in 2000. Trans World Airlines actually operated the 717-231 for a short time period from 2000 to 2001, until it merged with American Airlines in 2001 and became part of aviation history. American Airlines ended Boeing 717-200 service at TWA and sold a majority of the Boeing 717-231 jets to AirTran Airways. TWA had been operating around 20 to 30 717s in their fleet before American took over. American Airlines canceled the remaining orders with Boeing, leaving a potential 70 Boeing 717 jets from ever being produced. This was a major set back to the Boeing 717-200 program as the plane would not gain enough orders to remain in production past 2006. Many of the TWA Boeing 717-231 jets are flying with AirTran (Being transferred to Delta) and Qantas / QantasLink. TWA's order for a potential 100 Boeing 717-200 jets were never realized and in 2006 Boeing 717-200 production closed, even though the aircraft continues to gain interest among airlines (Delta and Volotea).

Boeing 717-231 TWA Trans World Airlines Photo

Above TWA Boeing 717 photo by Aero Icarus on Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. Photo (only) released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.

For more information on the Boeing 717-200 jet, take a look at the other pages about the airplane here on the site.

Other Names for the Trans World Airlines TWA Boeing 717-231
The Boeing 717-200 aircraft has a few different names that it is called by. If you are flying on or learning more about the aircraft you will find the following names for the airplane:

  • Boeing B-717-200 TWA Trans World Airlines: the B-717 is used by many, including the FAA, to refer to the Aircraft.
  • Boeing B712 TWA Trans World Airlines: B712 is the ICAO code for the airplane that is used by air traffic controllers, airlines and others. More information on this will be posted later.
  • Boeing 717 TWA Trans World Airlines (with out the -200): Many call the 717-200 just the 717, which is the main aircraft program the plane is in (the only plane in the 717 program). 717 is also the IATA code for the jet aircraft.