SAS Withdraws Q400s Permanently

The day after Scandinavian Airlines once again grounded its fleet of Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 aircraft following another landing-gear related crash landing, the airline has decided to withdraw all of its Q400s from service permanently. SAS was the launch customer for the Q400 – the first of them entering service in January 2000.

SAS’s chief executive Mats Jansson stated that, “Confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft. Accordingly, with the board of directors’ approval, I have decided to immediately remove Dash 8 Q400 aircraft from service.”

The airline’s deputy CEO John Dueholm said, “SAS’s flight operations have always enjoyed an excellent reputation and there is a risk that use of the Dash 8 Q400 could eventually damage the SAS brand.”

Utilised by the airline on short-haul flights around Scandinavia and Europe, Q400s represented approximately 15 to 20 percent of SAS’s fleet, and previously carried about 5% of the airline’s total passenger traffic. With the withdrawal of the Bombardier aircraft, SAS will use a combination of other aircraft in its fleet and leased aircraft to replace it in service.

SAS has warned that it would have to cancel flights “in the period immediately ahead,” but did not say how many. It had already cancelled about 50 flights on Sunday and Monday after Saturday’s emergency landing at Copenhagen’s airport.

Bombardier has recommended that airlines continue flying the Q400, saying there appeared to be no link between the Saturday’s crash landing and previous incidents involving SAS turboprops.

Meanwhile, Qantas announced earlier this month it was buying 12 more Q400s for its regional subsidiary QantasLink, in a deal valued at $345 million. This would boost its fleet of Q400s to 21. Qantas also said it would take purchase options on 24 additional Q400s.

With the Qantas order, Bombardier’s backlog of firm orders for the Q400 stood at125 aircraft – representing 1.9 years of production, according to Desjardins Securities analyst Benoit Poirier.