Bombardier Q400s Have Had Few Prior Problems

Canadian plane maker Bombardier said on Friday the crash of one of its Dash 8 Q400 turboprop aircraft near Buffalo, New York, on Thursday night, which killed 50 people, was the first fatal crash involving that type of plane.

A spokesman for Bombardier told CBC television news that 220 of its Q400 NextGen turboprops have been delivered to airlines around the world.

That fleet has logged more than 1 million flying hours and 1.5 million takeoff cycles without a fatal accident, John Arnone, a Bombardier spokesman, told the CBC.

Three Dash 8 Q-400 planes, owned by SAS, were involved in crash landings in Scandinavia due to problems with landing gear in a span of 45 days in late 2007. None of those incidents were fatal.

Montreal-based Bombardier said last week it would lay off 1,360 people due to the downturn in its business jet market. It said that softness could be offset by an expected 10 percent rise in orders for commercial aircraft, led by an increase in demand for the Q400 turboprop.

The company said earlier this week that it had agreed terms with Colgan Air, the airline that operated the plane that crashed on Thursday, on an option to buy another 15 Q400 NextGen turboprop airliners.

That was on top of 15 firm Colgan orders, worth USD$432 million, announced in January for the fuel-efficient, low emission, 70- to 80-seat turboprops.