De Havilland Canada arrives at Paris with decisions about its future unsettled, including the question of whether to reboot production of one of its venerable twin-turboprops.
The company’s vice-president Neil Sweeney says the Calgary firm is considering bringing back its DHC-8 regional airliner and its Shorts Sherpa military transport.
“We’re seeing significant interest in the… Sherpa,” says Sweeney.
De Havilland acquired the Sherpa programme in 2019, nearly 20 years after production stopped. Last year, possible customers expressed interest in a reboot.
The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-powered Sherpa sits “in a league of its own”, filling a niche between Twin Otters and larger Airbus C295s, says Sweeney.
In an effort to further gauge interest, De Havilland is now equipping a company owned Sherpa with Garmin 1000 avionics and plans to introduce that aircraft to potential customers next year.
Hanging over De Havilland is also the question of whether to restart production of its DHC-8 turboprop. It halted production of Dash 8-400s in 2022.
The type remains a mainstay of numerous regional airline fleets, but the production halt created a competitive opening for ATR as the only remaining Western producer of large passenger turboprops.
De Havilland is considering bringing back a modernised version of either the Dash 8-400 or smaller Dash 8-300.
“We’re in discussions with both current, former and prospective customers on the Dash 8, trying to really understand what they’re looking for in a relaunched Dash 8,” says Sweeney. “We’re still undertaking that work, but we’d anticipate that there’ll be a decision next year.”
De Havilland is also now producing in Calgary its first DHC-515, an aircraft intended for delivery to Greece.
Launched in 2022, the PW127-powered DHC-515 is an update to De Havilland’s DHC-415. The DHC-515 will be capably of cruising at 187kt (346km/h and carrying up to 6,137 litres (1,621 gallon), and be fitted with Universal Avionics’ Insight avionics with touchscreens.
De Havilland holds contracts for delivery of 22 DHC-515s and said on 16 June that the Canadian province of Manitoba intends to purchase three, with a final deal expected “in the coming months”.
De Havilland is also using the show to highlight its new DHC-6 Twin Otter Classic 300G, a variant launched in Paris two years ago that is making its show debut. Ethiopian Airlines today announced it has agreed to purchase two of the type.
With that aircraft, De Havilland shifted away from focus on its Twin Otter -400, which has more-powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34s and a composite-material door.
Many customers found they did not need the PT6A-34’s extra horsepower – and the resulting extra cost. And some customer preferred the original metal doors, which are easier to fix, Sweeney says.
That led De Havilland to introduce the -300G, which can be powered by either PT6A-27s (the -300’s standard) or PT6A-34s. Ite also has modern avionics – Garmin’s 1000 NXI package – and tweaks including lighter seats.
“We could make the -400, but most of the operators have told us that they wanted to go back to what the aircraft was,” says Sweeney.
De Havilland this year intends to break ground on construction of a runway near Calgary, the first phase of a plan to develop an aircraft assembly and parts manufacturing site. The company anticipates the first buildings at the new “De Havilland Field” will be operating in 2028. It eventually intends to assemble DHC-515s, Twin Otters and other types at the site.
