I flew on 3x 717's over Easter Sat & Sun - YQY, YQT & YQS - SYD/MEL/LST/SYD
So did a lot of research and tracking in the lead up.
717's have been operating ad hoc MEL/SYD/MEL flights (QFLink flight numbers).
They have been down to 9 of them for a while now. Only 2 are needed for SYD operations and 3 for MEL operations, the other 4 just sit around looking like they were retired when they weren't, they reappear and fly again but that looks to have changed now from what I am reading above.
An examination of the Qantas website shows some 717's flying up to the end of October 2024.
They are beautiful to fly on in every regard from seats, leg room, condition, less clutter (5 seats across) when boarding, sound etc. Very sad indeed.
* I did notice at MEL on Saturday that an aircraft enthusiast was taking pics of YQY when we got off at Gate 21 (don't know who he was)
