De Havilland Aircraft of Canada announces Dash 8 roadmap

For more than four decades, the Dash 8 family of aircraft has established the benchmark for regional turboprops accumulating over 46 million flight cycles of experience in operations globally.  The aircraft type has delivered unequalled performance, robustness, value, and efficiency to a wide range of operations in some of the most demanding and harsh environments on the planet. With new DHC production facilities at De Havilland Field near Calgary, Alberta, coming on stream in the latter portion of the decade, the time is right to determine what operators are looking for in their fleet planning, and where a new Dash 8 might fit in.  

To best understand our customer's needs, De Havilland Canada has assembled a Product Strategy Council and has been meeting over the past months with operators in North America, Oceania, Japan, Africa and Europe, to understand their requirements and expectations as their businesses objectives and passenger preferences evolve into the future. Once these discussions are complete, De Havilland Canada will be considering the feedback we have received from our Product Strategy Council to determine the roadmap for the Dash 8 program strategy. This is the same approach DHC undertook prior to developing new production programs for the DHC-515 and the Twin Otter Classic 300G.  

Ryan DeBrusk, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for De Havilland Canada stated: “De Havilland Aircraft of Canada would like to thank the operators who have participated in this important initiative. It’s clear the Dash 8 continues to be a highly valued fleet for operators around the world whether in an airline’s network or performing a specialized mission.  Our teams have been energized by the valuable feedback we have received and are working hard to provide a roadmap to our customers that outlines the future of the Dash 8 program.” 

While this work is underway, we remain committed to enhancing the platform through in-service support and new features such as cargo conversion upgrades, cabin enhancements, avionics upgrades, our ESP+ life extension program and our OEM Certified Refurbishment Program.