Linking three of the North Sea's great oil towns in Scotland and Norway this is a pretty standard solid regional route, albeit one powered by a niche demand. But the interesting thing is what's happening to the equipment that SAS subsidiary Wideroe uses on the route - and in particular how they're marketing it.
Here's the heading of the press release: SAS INTRODUCES NEW AIRCRAFT ON ABERDEEN TO NORWAY SERVICES.
It goes on to extol the myriad advantages that you as a passenger will enjoy, namely: 36% more capacity on the route, 30% less fuel-burn, 3,000t less CO2 emitted per year. Oh yes, and most of the time you get to fly in a thing called a Q400.
Now that is clearly better than a Q300, but until now you also had a choice, some days anyway, of a nice SAS 737-400.
On this route you haven't got much choice, but I like the way SAS is formulating its new props as 'better' than jets.
I've only flown in a Q400 once before - I very much liked it and I blogged about it.
Full text of that SAS press release below:
SAS INTRODUCES NEW AIRCRAFT ON
Five new Q400 aircraft to operate services from
New planes increase capacity by 36 per cent and reduce emissions by a third
The SAS Group airline Widerøe, the largest regional airline in the Nordic countries, is introducing five new Q400 aircraft to operate the majority of its routes from
Five new Q400 turboprop planes will be introduced to the airline's
Commenting on the introduction of the Q400 aircraft, Lars-Ove Filipson, General Manager United Kingdom &
"The new Q400 is the next step in the continuing evolution of the Q400 aircraft and marks an exciting development for Widerøe. The aircraft uses a third (30%) less fuel than jet aircraft of a similar size, thus producing 3,000 fewer tons of CO
emissions every year. The introduction of the new Q400 turboprop airliner to
- ENDS -
on November 18, 2008 12:15 PM | Reply
Hmm. Wonder if they are they same Q400s that SAS retired a few years ago after a number of main gear failures?
Those aircraft were still hangared at CPH East last time I looked - in neutral paint jobs.
Going back to CPH tomorrow, i'll keep a lookout for the Q400s.