Bombardier and Canadian Chorus Aviation have signed a firm purchase agreement whereby Chorus will acquire 13 Q400 NextGen turboprop air...
The aircraft will be operated by Jazz Aviation under the Air Canada Express banner. The deal also announced Chorus and Jazz as the launch customer and operator for the industry’s first Dash 8-300 Extended Service Program that will extend the life of the Dash 8-300 turboprop to 120,000 flight cycles from the original 80,000 flight cycles.
Based on the list price, the firm order is valued at approximately USD 424 million and could increase to USD 758 million should Chorus exercise all its options.
The Extended Service Program will extend the service life of Jazz’s Dash 8-300 by 50 per cent, or approximately 15 years. The agreement covers a minimum of 19 aircraft and the program will begin in early 2017.
The Dash 8-300 aircraft is an efficient 50-seat turboprop with attractive operating economics that is well suited to meet regional passenger demand across Canada.
The ESP will be accomplished through several structural and engineering analyses, applying fatigue and test data that has been accumulated on the Dash 8-300 aircraft. It will be initiated through a Service Bulletin that will make reference to a new Maintenance Program Supplement. As launch operator, Jazz will incorporate the Service Bulletin and Maintenance Program Supplement and arrange for the replacement of some structural and systems components as identified by the Service Bulletin.
In 2009, Bombardier successfully launched the Dash 8-100 aircraft Extended Service Program alongside Widerøe’s Flyveselskap AS of Norway as launch customer for that aircraft type.
The Q400 is optimized for short-haul operations and capable of seating up to 86 passengers.
Including Chorus’ order, Bombardier has booked firm orders for 534 Q400s. Worldwide,Q400 and Q400 NextGen aircraft have transported more than 355 million passengers and have logged over 5.7 million flight hours and more than 6.1 million take-offs and landings.
The Q400 and Q400 NextGen aircraft program includes some 50 owners and operators in over 40 countries on six continents.
