Just occasionally, an aircraft design that may have been deemed to have run its course is resurrected because of a confluence of factors. This perfectly sums up our classic aircraft for this issue – the Saab 340 twin turboprop regional airliner…
Planes, trains and automobiles
Saab AB is a Swedish company that has produced everything from cars to jet fighters as well as surveillance systems, avionics and even submarines. As Saab considered expanding its military aircraft production into the regional airline market in the 1970s, it soon became apparent that a country of eight million people couldn’t put together such a big project alone. So it partnered with US-based aircraft manufacturer Fairchild Aircraft with the aim of producing a twin turboprop airliner capable of carrying 30-36 passengers. The ‘340’ first flew in 1983 and production was soon extended to a total of 11 variants including the larger Saab 2000, a freighter model and some were even modified for military use.
