Excitement and pride were in plentiful supply on 28 May as politicians, dignitaries, and suppliers joined Deutsche Aircraft management and staff in an Oberpfaffenhofen hangar to hail the roll-out of the D328eco as the first all-German commercial aircraft in a generation to enter production. “German aviation is back home,” enthused the company’s co-chief executive Nico Neumann as employees embraced amid the applause.

TAC 1

Source: Deutsche Aircraft

TAC 1 was rolled out on 28 May but is presently without its engines as a cash-conservation measure

Airbus – which assembles airliners in Hamburg, fighters in Manching, and helicopters in Donauworth – and the likes of military trainer specialist Grob might take issue with Deutsche Aircraft’s suggestion that it is single-handedly revitalizing the domestic aircraft manufacturing sector. However, the business’s pledge to bring back to life a type introduced almost 35 years ago and become only the second player after ATR in the 40-seat turboprop market is certainly significant.

Sierra Nevada-owned Deutsche Aircraft admits the D328eco – which it hopes to fly later this year with an entry into service target of quarter four 2027 – is not a clean-sheet design. Rather, it is an “advanced evolution” of the original Dornier 328 with the latest version of Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PW100-series engine, new Garmin avionics, redesigned landing gear, and a fuselage stretched by 2.1m (6.9ft) to accommodate 40 seats instead of its predecessor’s 32.

Some might even say the “eco” designation is also a bit of a misnomer. Unlike rival Heart Aerospace, which is developing the ES-30 hybrid-electric 30-seat airliner, Deutsche Aircraft has opted for conventional propulsion provided by off-the-shelf PW127XT-S powerplants, similar to those on the ATR 42-600. The company also makes great play of the D328eco being “100% SAF [sustainable aviation fuel] compatible”, but that hardly makes it unique. Most modern engines are, in theory.

However, the biggest challenge facing Deutsche Aircraft – which succeeded 328 Support Services, the company that took over the type certificate and design rights to the original Dornier 328 turboprop and its 328JET sibling and was subsequently acquired by Sierra Nevada in 2015 – will be breathing new life into a moribund market for sub-50-seat passenger aircraft.

Sales of the ATR 42 are massively outpaced by those of the larger ATR 72. In fact, last year, of 56 ATRs ordered, only five were for the smaller variant. The only other Western company in the segment, De Havilland Canada, which owns the out-of-production DHC-8 series of regional turboprops, has shown little appetite to return to manufacturing.

So, what makes Neumann confident that Deutsche Aircraft can deliver in the sort of numbers that will justify its investment in a new production plant at Leipzig airport capable of building 48 aircraft a year, which will be ready to begin production in early 2026, and a supply chain that includes a rear fuselage assembly line at Dynamatic Technologies in Bengaluru, India? “Quite simply, the market loves this product,” he says.

Although Deutsche Aircraft has not announced firm orders for the D328eco, Neumann says the company is talking to around 60 potential customers and has “lots of” letters of intent or LOIs. On top of a “replacement market” for ageing small regional aircraft – including 150 legacy 328 turboprops and jets still in service – there are “classic growth markets” in India and the rest of Asia, where demand for regional air services is growing exponentially, he asserts.

He refutes the suggestion that most new airlines in emerging markets want to start large – eschewing 40-seat regional turboprops for bigger regional jets or even Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies. Many existing carriers offering essential connectivity services around the world have “had the chance to go big and haven’t”, he suggests. He cites Norway, Australia, and the north of Canada as being among the territories where there is the largest need to replace ageing fleets.

While Neumann makes much of the “Dornier DNA” behind the D328eco, Deutsche Aircraft decided not to build the aircraft in the erstwhile brand’s spiritual home of Bavaria, where Dornier made its name and the original 328 was assembled. Instead, it chose Saxony in eastern Germany where wages and living costs are lower. Leipzig, says Neumann, is also “well connected” by transport links and, as a DHL hub, is one of the centres of the European air freight industry.

FAL - Leipzig 3

Source: Deutsche Aircraft

Leipzig airport, where Deutsche Aircraft’s new assembly line is being built, offers advantages over Oberpfaffenhofen, says Neumann

Construction of the new facility began a few weeks ago, and Deutsche Aircraft aims to have it ready before the end of the year, when it will begin installing jigs and assembly lines. Neumann expects output in the first full year to be around 12 aircraft, rising into the 20s in the second or third and eventually into the forties, although he is reluctant to set out a precise ramp-up timetable.

The aircraft unveiled at Oberpfaffenhofen – test aircraft or TAC 1 - was lacking engines. Its PW127XTs are poised at P&WC’s facility at Longueuil near Montreal but shipping them over for a roll-out ceremony months before they are required would be “sending the wrong signal” to staff at a time when the business needs to preserve cash, says Neumann.

TAC 1’s fuselage is constructed from two separate legacy 328 structures – the nose and empennage from one and centre section from the other – to achieve a stretch without plugs. TAC 2 will join it in flight testing next year, chiefly to evaluate aircraft systems, while a third test platform, with final cabin configuration, will be the first example assembled in Leipzig.

Following its appearance at last year’s Farnborough event, Deutsche Aircraft will be at the Paris air show with a mock-up of the D328eco on display in its chalet. The company is one of at least three spin-offs from the original Dornier – others are Dornier Seawings, developer of the Seastar CD2 amphibian, which has offices next to Deutsche Aircraft in Oberpfaffenhofen, and General Atomics AeroTec Systems, an offshoot of the US defence giant, which is behind the NXT variant of the original Dornier 228 turboprop.

D328eco - Garmin Cockpit 3

Source: Deutsche Aircraft

Among the changes to the legacy Dornier 328 is a new Garmin cockpit

Founded in Friedrichshafen in 1914 by Claude Dornier, the original Dornier company set up its Oberpfaffenhofen factory in the 1930s and became one of the biggest names in German aviation. In the mid-1990s, the business was taken over by US firm Fairchild, becoming Fairchild Dornier and continuing production of the 328, which entered service in 1993, as well as developing a 70-seat regional jet called the 728JET. However, the costs of the latter programme proved too much and Fairchild Dornier collapsed in 2002, days after rolling out the prototype.

A short-lived venture, AvCraft, acquired the rights to the 328 and planned to restart production of the jet, but itself went bankrupt three years later. 328 Support Services took over the entire 328 programme in 2006 – with the aim of providing maintenance, repair, and overhaul services to operators of the existing fleet. Nine years later, 328 Support Services was itself taken over by Sierra Nevada, which in turn renamed it Deutsche Aircraft with plans to resume production of the turboprop.

However, the 328JET will not be resurrected. “There is no market in a sustainable aviation world for a [regional] jet,” says Neumann. Neither will Deutsche Aircraft be rushing to join the electric or disruptive propulsion bandwagon. “Maybe down the line we could look at a hybrid or even hydrogen in 15 years, but our priority is establishing the D328eco,” he says.