Saab 340A

The Saab 340A is the first production version of the Saab 340, the regional turboprop with which Saab moved into commercial aviation. It stems from the Swedish company's 1974 decision to develop its first major civil aircraft after decades devoted almost entirely to military aviation. Internal studies in the late 1970s settled on a short-haul aircraft of around 30 seats with turboprop propulsion, slower than a jet but more economical, at a time shaped by high oil prices after the 1973 oil crisis. The chosen engine, the General Electric CT7-5A2, was regarded as competitive with the jet engines of the era.

The venture was too large for Saab alone, and in January 1980 a partnership with US manufacturer Fairchild was announced: Fairchild would build the wings, tail unit and engine nacelles, while Saab took on the fuselage, vertical stabilizer and final assembly in Linköping and carried 75 per cent of the costs of development, system integration and certification. Hence the original SF340 (Saab-Fairchild 340) designation, which the type certificate still uses: data sheet EASA.A.068 states that the "SAAB SF340A" is the same aircraft as the "SAAB-FAIRCHILD 340A". The certification application to the Swedish authority was filed on 31 March 1980, and Saab built a new factory in Linköping in 1981 to 1982 for civil production. The aircraft adopted manufacturing techniques from Saab's military programmes, such as diffusion bonding instead of rivets to save weight.

After a public roll-out in November 1982, the first SF340 flew on 25 January 1983. The Swedish type certificate (LFV TC A 1/84, later replaced by EASA.A.068) was issued on 30 May 1984, on a JAR 25 certification basis with special conditions covering performance in icing, gravel runway operation, take-off and landing with a tailwind above 10 knots, and high-altitude take-off; the type was also approved for CAT II all-weather operations. On 6 June 1984 launch customer Crossair of Switzerland received its first aircraft, and one week later the type flew its first revenue passengers, among them Pope John Paul II. That summer Crossair opened scheduled service between Basel and Paris. Launched onto the market in 1984 and helped by the 1978 US Airline Deregulation Act, the Saab 340 quickly became the best-selling commuter aircraft in the world.

Fairchild left aircraft manufacturing after completing the first 40 units, and in 1985 (1984 according to the Spanish-language Wikipedia) Saab dropped its partner's name from the programme and continued production under the designation Saab 340A. A total of 159 aircraft of this version were built, serial numbers 340A-001 to 340A-159, in passenger, VIP and cargo configurations. In 1989 it was succeeded on the line by the Saab 340B, with more powerful engines and wider horizontal stabilizers.

Technically, the 340A is a low-wing monoplane with a pressurized cabin, certified for up to 37 passengers, although 30 to 36 seats in a one-plus-two layout is typical. It is powered by two GE CT7-5A2 free-turbine turboprops rated at 1,735 shp (1,294 kW) for take-off, with 15.9:1 reduction gearing and four-blade Dowty propellers of 3.35 m diameter. It is 19.73 m long, with a 21.44 m wingspan and a height of 6.97 m; maximum cruise speed is 502 km/h, maximum operating altitude 7,620 m, maximum fuel capacity 2,580 kg and maximum payload 3,130 kg. Certified maximum take-off mass depends on the modifications embodied: 12,370 kg as built, 12,700 kg with modification 1531 (landing gear for increased weight) and 12,930 kg with modification 3139, which raised operational weights by 230 kg.

Once superseded by the 340B, the 340A enjoyed a long second life on the used market, largely through Saab Aircraft Leasing, which placed it with operators such as Lagunair, Golden Air, Swedline, Quebec Air Express (with 33 seats, from Montreal and Quebec City to remote markets), Fina Air in the Dominican Republic, Regional Express and Air Nelson in New Zealand, and delivered a 340A freighter to RAF AVIA in Riga. Canada's Rise Air flies it alongside the 340B in passenger and combined passenger-cargo layouts, and SprintAir acquired 340As from 2005 for time-critical freight and charter work across Europe. The 340AF and 340A QC cargo variants derive from this version.

Accidents involving the version include the accidental gear retraction of a Crossair 340A (HB-AHA) on the apron at Zürich on 21 February 1990, which destroyed the aircraft without casualties; the hard, ice-related landing of an Express Airlines 340A at Chisholm-Hibbing on 2 January 1993; the gear collapse of a Shuttle America 340A at Washington Dulles on 8 June 2005; and Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 (LV-CEJ), which crashed at Prahuaniyeu, Argentina, on 18 May 2011 with 22 fatalities.