First E145 for Australia

[Bruce Bramwell]

They use the 120 production line, therefore its easier for them to swap back into the turboprop market........

[Andrew McLaughlin]

At last year's RAAA conference at Coolum, Embraer, ATR, and Beechcraft all said there would need to be a quantum leap in engine technology as well as a major launch customer (50+ aircraft) to justify the investment in bringing a new 18-36 seat turboprop to market. They also said the market is more or less awash with plenty of written-down used aircraft and that, because airlines who fly these don't have huge margins, they'd be unlikely to be able to afford to finance a whole new fleet. It's much cheaper for them to operate used 36-48 seat Saabs or Dash 8s with 50% loads, than it would be to fly a fleet of new 18-36 seaters with 80+% load factors.

Plus, although there are hundreds of Metros and Brasilias out there, there are few operators who fly more than a dozen of them, so there is unlikely to be a launch customer with a large enough requirement to justify a new 18-36 seat aircraft. In fact, I think Rex along with American Eagle are the largest operators of aircraft in this class, albeit with larger 36-seat Saab 340s.

The only western aircraft currently being manufactured in that class is the Viking Twin Otter 400, plus there are some Chinese 18 seaters such as the Harbin Y-12 IV etc which few western airlines would touch let alone be able to get certified. There was also talk last year of a Swiss company re-opening the Do-328 production line, but I haven't heard much about that in recent months.

[lloyd fox]

Today's Courier Mail newspaper announced BNE-CNJ(Cloncurry)-CNS route will start soon 3 times a week with the ERJ-145.

Anyone have a schedule .The 1st ERJ-145 has not yet arrived in BNE.


Cheers Lloyd

[Nathan Long]

Originally Posted by Andrew McLaughlin

Ironically, that's how they got the EMB-134/145 in the first place - by lengthening the EMB-120 and putting jets and a swept wing on it!

Andrew,

Sorry for the delay in replying, but that was my point, hence the (sarcastic) smilie..

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Originally Posted by Nathan Long

Andrew,

Sorry for the delay in replying, but that was my point, hence the (sarcastic) smilie..

No worries Nathan - I did get it but wanted to put some context to it for those who didn't know the 135/145 was developed from the 120.

The first SAW 145 is due to arrive in Cloncurry on June 5 if anyone's in town...not sure if it's going to CNE or BNE after that.

Cheers from Hong Kong

Andrew

[Stuart Trevena]

Hi All,

Does anyone manufacture a replacement for the BAE146's?

They were a great little Jet for short haul routes.

Stuart

[Gerry S]

Ironically, that's how they got the EMB-134/145 in the first place - by lengthening the EMB-120 and putting jets and a swept wing on it!

Well, not quite...
They did develop the CBA123 Vector while they were also developing the E145.

If you ask me... the 145 has:
E120 rear section except for engine mounting, and horizontal stabilizer.
CBA123 horizontal stabilizer
Wings and landing gear developed from the CBA123.

Don't worry, it's just me being pedantic...

[David Knudsen]

Originally Posted by Andrew McLaughlin

The first SAW 145 is due to arrive in Cloncurry on June 5 if anyone's in town...

Any idea on estimated arrival time in Cloncurry Andrew? It's just about crazy enough to consider being there for!

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Originally Posted by David Knudsen

Any idea on estimated arrival time in Cloncurry Andrew? It's just about crazy enough to consider being there for!

Not at this stage sorry David.

I know someone who will be there for the arrival though and can possibly find out before the day. He's going up the night before so that might indicate a morning arrival?

Cheers

[lloyd fox]

This was in the Townsville paper yesterday

SkyAirWorld plans to fly scheduled services from the southeast to the mining town, with a link to Cairns.

The company is yet to announce scheduling or pricing for the routes, but chief executive David Charlton hinted the schedule could include daily services, at least in the longer term.

‘‘I don’t see it as being something that you’ll run two or three times a day, seven days a week or anything like that,’’ he said.

‘‘I see it as something that will end up, ideally for us, at least in daily services.

‘‘That’s where we’d like to get to and really that depends on the response of the market place.’’

SkyAirWorld currently operates only from Brisbane to Honiara in the Solomon Islands, but the move to Cloncurry is part of an expansion into regular domestic services in regional Australia, servicing niche markets and the resources sector.

Mr Charlton said Cloncurry and the wider region were under-serviced.

He said it made sense to cater for the high number of resource sector workers, residents, businesses and government agencies travelling from Cloncurry.

‘‘The majority of passengers going to that area transit via somewhere else, be it Townsville, be it Cairns or be it Mount Isa,’’ he said.

‘‘From a straight commercial perspective, Cloncurry is not serviced from Brisbane and Cairns is not serviced from Cloncurry by a jet service so we see an opportunity to carve a small niche and deliver increased access to that p a r t o f r e g i o n a l Queensland.

‘‘We’re putting a 48-seat jet on to start with but our airline has 48, 76 and 94-seat aircraft, so we can also be flexible in the capacity that we put on to the route as a function of how it goes.’’

Two new 48-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jets will service the routes.

They will be the first jets of their kind in service in Australia.

‘‘We’re actually intending to base one of our ERJ-145 aircraft in Brisbane and the other one in Cairns,’’ Mr Charlton said.

‘‘The Cairns-based aircraft will also, from a charter perspective, offer some unique capabilities.

‘‘It’s a 48-seat jet based in Cairns and again that’s a capability that is not currently in the marketplace.’’

Cloncurry Shire Council has upgraded the town’s airport, beefing up security for the arrival of a regular jet service.

SkyAirWorld will show o f f i t s new Embraer ERJ-145 in Cloncurry on Thursday when it will also announce the initial flight schedule and pricing.