![]() Now is a real good opportunity for us to look at our product lines and see where the markets are shifting and how we can adjust our products lines to suit the market demands for the future.” Bombardier had a lot of things that they were focusing on. “That’s not a negative against Bombardier. “We wake up every day and all we think about are Dash 8s,” he said. That’s a higher capacity than the 78 seats considered to be the ideal number five years ago. Young said 82 seats is the “sweet spot” for the existing Dash 8-400. New sales are a priority at De Havilland, added Curtis, who is also president of a Longview division, Viking Air Ltd., which makes the Series 400 Twin Otter. “These aircraft have enormous versatility, and we believe there is a bright future.” And we are also seeking market opportunities around the world, leading to new Dash 8-400 sales,” he said in an email. “We are doing that by first ensuring that De Havilland’s existing customers and orders are addressed in a seamless fashion. Longview chairman David Curtis said his focus is on maintaining growth in Canadian aerospace. WestJet’s workhorse continues to be Boeing 737s, but the smaller Q400s allow Encore to do short-haul flights to smaller markets considered uneconomical for the narrow-body 737s.īombardier produced the Q400 from 1997 until it sold the program to Longview in mid-2019. chose the Q400 over the French-Italian rival ATR 72-600 turboprop in 2012 for the Calgary-based airline’s regional Encore service. He worked at Bombardier when WestJet Airlines Ltd. “We’re starting to have the right discussions about what could be the future of this product platform,” said Young. But as part of the original design of the Dash 8-400, which I was part of, we had these two potential variants in mind,” said Young, the former general manager of the Q Series program at Bombardier.ĭe Havilland will be conducting market demand assessments for a shrunken version, including holding talks with prospective customers about potential changes to the Dash 8-400, formerly known as the Q400 under Bombardier. “We’ve also started to look at the possibility of stretching the aircraft and making a 100-seat turboprop, though that is further away. That would be a possible replacement to the original Dash 8-300, albeit based on a Dash 8-400 configuration.”ĭuring a phone interview, he said De Havilland is well positioned to prosper under the ownership of Victoria-based Longview Aviation Capital Corp., which acquired the Dash 8 program from Montreal-based Bombardier Inc., effective June 1, 2019. “This would be a shorter aircraft in the range of 50 to 60 seats. “We’ve been starting initial discussions on possible variants of the aircraft,” said Todd Young, De Havilland’s chief operating officer. The aircraft is now called the Dash 8-400 under the De Havilland Aircraft of Canada banner. Bombardier produced the Q400 from 1997 until it sold the program to Longview Aviation Capital in mid-2019. chose the Bombardier Q400 for its regional Encore service. is considering variations on a theme for its Dash 8-400 aircraft, gauging interest for a shrunken version of the turboprop and pondering a stretched design. Estimated reading time 5 minutes, 46 seconds.ĭe Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd.
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