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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 0566.PDF
irrelevant, if only because air traffic control restrictions do not permit prolonged cruise. It concedes, however, that the high climb rate and ceiling of the Saab could be advan tageous in avoiding congested airspace. According to Saab, Regional Jet econ omics are at .least 20 per cent worse than those of the Saab 2000 on a 200 n.m. sector. Besides their higher fuel-burn, the capital cost of the jets must be higher, says Saab, which doubts that Canadair can develop and sell its aircraft for less than the $13 million, or more, of the Challenger business jet. This compares with $11 million for the 2000. Saab dismisses Shorts' assertion that the FJX regional jet project can be sold for $10 million (1987 money), and bases its economic comparisons on the Canadair product. Fokker doubts whether Saab can afford to sell the 2000 for $11 million. Quiet propellers Saab is addressing the cabin-noise and vibration problem with six-bladed, slow- rewing propellers. Their tips are twice as far from the cabin walls as on current turboprops, with a consequent 6dB reduction in interior noise. (Six-bladed propellers on the Fokker 50 help to give that aircraft a quiet cabin.) Saab is confident that the cabin of the 2000 will be much less noisy than those of current turboprops, and will even be quieter than an MD-80 interior. While accepting the psychological barrier which propellers can erect, Saab believes that the problem will be eroded on the 2000 by the novelty of their six curved blades. More importantly, the compatibility of the 2000 with standard jetways will help to erad icate the distinction in passengers' minds between jets they hardly see and turboprops which they now brave the elements to board. Business passengers will account for a substantial proportion of those flying in the new high-speed 50-seaters. Saab claims that its customer airlines will be able to provide their passengers with three-abreast seats wider than those found in an MD-80, but that the Canadair Regional Jet will offer rela tively cramped-at-the-shoulders four-abreast seating in a cabin originally designed for generous three-abreast layouts. Saab also claims advantages in baggage volume and provision for galleys, both of which are vital for business-class services, it says. Air France and KLM have both told Saab that gigantic galleys will be needed, in proportion to the size of the aircraft. By the time the 2000 enters service with Crossair in 1993, Saab expects to have a customer base of 400 or more 340s, flying with 40 airlines. Boeing-deHavilland is capi talising upon the weight-lifting capacity of the Dash 8 to develop a family of turboprops, including a fast 70-seat -400 version. The ATR42/72 family has already built a respectable, broadly based market for more than 200 aircraft in the 50- to 70-seat cate- Block times (Mach 0.6 cruise) Above Typical block times for the Saab 2000 on European inter-regional routes. Other manufacturers believe that the majority of regional routes are short enough to be served adequately by slower types. Sales of the Fokker SO, below, approach 100 gory, while British Aerospace asserts that the turboprop is far from dead. It believes that the 64- to 70-seat turboprop category, exem plified by its ATP, is now firmly established. BAe welcomes the competition from the ATR72 and, now, the Dash 8-400, which reinforces its view that there is a market. Fokker can claim to have invented the regional turboprop genre. The Fokker 50 has already added nearly 100 sales to the envi able success of the F.27, which sold nearly 800 units, more than half of which are still in service. The wild card is the 40-seat Let 610, which the Czechs hope can benefit from British Aerospace marketing experience with the 748., ATP and Jetstream. Saab reckons that the 50-seat market will require 1,400 new aircraft by the turn of the century, with 1,000 current 50-seaters being retired or having their utilisation severely curtailed. The company expects sales of the fast new 50-seaters to be concentrated in Europe and the USA, where competitive pressures are greatest, although some countries on the Pacific rim (notably Taiwan) provide a competitive deregulated environment which will heighten the sales battle. 44 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 4 March 1989
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