New turboprop saves fuel and protects the environment
On 10 November 2008, Air Berlin’s first Q400 will be „ready for take-off“. At 6:35 am, our new fleet member bearing the identification „D-ABQA“ will take to the skies from Düsseldorf to Stuttgart. In the future, this plane will serve this flight route up to five times a day. This Q400 is the first of a total of ten turpoprop aircraft which Air Berlin ordered from the Canadian company Bombardier in March 2008. An option to buy ten additional aircraft was also signed at the time. The entire order will be financed through HSH Nordbank.
As Joachim Hunold, Air Berlin’s CEO, stated on the occasion of the Q400’s „maiden flight“: „The use of these comfortable and fuel-efficient turboprops that can travel at a speed approaching that of jets enables us to obtain a significant cost reduction over the previously deployed Fokker 100 aircraft and to make an active contribution to protecting the environment. At full capacity, the Q400 only consumes 2.76 litres of fuel per passenger per 100 kilometres, while emitting 30 percent less CO than jets of a comparable size. Furthermore, thanks to state-of-the-art technology, the Q400 is also the quietest in its class.“
The 76-seat Q400s will be leased to Air Berlin’s cooperation partner, LGW – Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter mbH, which will deploy them in Air Berlin’s flight network, primarily on short routes. The next Q400 is expected to be delivered by the end of November 2008 and will serve the routes from Düsseldorf to Paris, Dresden and Hamburg. The Dortmund-based LGW – Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter mbH was founded in 1980 and currently has a fleet of six Dornier 228 turboprops. The airline company Walter has been operating domestic flights in Germany for Air Berlin since 2007.
Photo: Q400 Airplane / Air Berlin
