Original Equipment Manufacturers: May 2008 Archives

AMR Corp yesterday announced that wholly-owned subsidiary American Eagle Airlines will retire its Saab 340B fleet by year-end, and realign its operations at San Juan by transitioning 12 66-seat ATR 72s to Dallas. Here is management's memo to American Eagle employees (in two parts).

saabpage 1.pdf 

saabpage 2.pdf

So what does this mean for the venerable Saab turboprop? I went to the only logical source for an answer, Saab Aircraft Leasing (SAL) president and CEO Michael Magnusson.

Since it is not yet clear if Eagle will dispose of the turboprops in the near-term, it is difficult to say what impact it will have on the market. However, says Magnusson: "As long as the phase out is structured the worldwide market should be able to absorb them. Since new 30-seat turboprops are not manufactured anymore there is demand for used aircraft.

"Our Saab 340A Cargo market is doing well and this could be another avenue for some of these aircraft as the supply of good 340As is drying up. We at Saab will obviously do our bit to ensure a smooth transfer of Saab's to new operators."

What is Magnusson's reaction to AMR's decision? "In many ways I am not surprised, the Saab 340 is the smallest type in the very large Eagle fleet and being just 25 operational aircraft I suspected it would come under the 'microscope'," he says.

"What happens when a large organization such as Eagle flies a small plane such as the Saab 340? It is often not cost-effective and hence if there are any cuts it will usually hit the smallest aircraft."

Magnusson points out that Eagle previously flew 75 Jetstream 31s and again, as the carrier grew into larger aircraft and its cost-base increased, Eagle phased out all 19-seaters. "Now the time has come for the 30-seaters and I suspect they will focus on the 40-70 seaters going forward."

He adds: "A few years ago, American Airlines phased out the Fokker 100 fleet with a similar logic and retained the MD-80s/B737s as their smallest aircraft. The F100 fleet was placed quickly with non-US customers."

I'm stuck into serious business today - American and American Eagle face big fleet cuts, job losses and potential facility closures. For some momentary relief, a colleague sent me this - a humorous video taken by a group of visitors to Bombardier's Toronto facility. Check it out. Unique is the word.

What will commercial aircraft look like in the future? To answer this question, a revisit to the past might be necessary. This includes studying a possible return to seaplanes for cities within 30 miles of coastal waters, Airbus VP strategic marketing Philippe Jarry said in mid-March at the ISTAT conference in Orlando. Jarry makes a good point. People are flocking to coastlines around the world "in one of the greatest human migrations of modern times", writes John Tibbetts in his excellent November 2002 article Coastal cities - living on the Edge. "Many experts argue that cities will have to cope with almost all of the population growth to come in the next two decades, and much of this increase will occur in coastal urban centers."

Mindful of this, and the fact that at some point in the future flying boats might replace a lot of the work performed by container ships and cargo-configured aircraft, a Vancouver-based aviation enthusiast has laid out a design for a widebody twin hull flying boat. Richard Benbaruj is not an engineer or even a pilot. He's a self-taught designer who is "trying to turn a real passion into a career". He says he proposed the design to Canada's National Defence department, which says it's not interested at this time, and gave Bombardier a look-see a few years ago.

Bombardier already holds a presence in the amphibious sector with the Bombardier 415 or Superscooper as it is marketed in the USA. Bombardier sees "expanding the role beyond fire fighting", says the manufacturer's director, program management office and director of marketing, Benjamin Boehm. While the company is not currently looking at a commercial amphibious aircraft, he says: "The good thing is that Bombardier is positioned well. We have a foot in that water per say."

So, where does Benbaruj go from here with his design? Well that's where you come in. Here are some photos of static models and sketches of Benbaruj's mid-size version, which he estimates could hold 200 passengers. The configuration calls for a twin hull, high wing, with an integral elevator mounted on the trailing edge of the bridge, and a single vertical stabilizer. Two turbofan engines would be mounted on top of the wing. So, do you think this bird will fly?

R - Rudder

V - Vertical Stabilizer

W - Wing

T - Turbofan

C - Cockpit

H - Hull

B - Bridge

E - Elevator