The Dash-8 program has seen its fair share of interruptions over the past two years. First halted due to the pandemic, production was again paused this summer as a result of a strike at De Havilland’s Toronto facilities. However, the planemaker announced earlier this week that it had reached an agreement with union representatives and would complete unfilled orders before moving production away from Downsview.
Months of negotiations
The De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400, most commonly referred to as the Dash-8, is one of the most trusted turboprops around. The type took its first flight in June 1983. Close to 40 years later, over 1,300 planes have been built, and nearly 750 aircraft are currently operating with close to 120 carriers across the globe.
However, De Havilland temporarily halted the production of the plane in March 2020 due to the downturn in airline activity across the globe. Production of the DHC-6 Twin Otter was also put on ice. Meanwhile, the company also planned for a longer suspension due to the decommissioning of its Downsview production site in Toronto in the latter half of 2021.
The latter move affects approximately 500 of De Havilland’s staff. As such, more than 700 workers at the Downsview facilities went on strike in late July this year. The parties did not reach mutually satisfactory collective agreement extensions until October 26th. As such, De Havilland announced only this week that it would be resuming production to complete outstanding Dash-8 orders in Toronto.
Optimistic outlook despite few orders
According to the database of ch-aviation, there are currently 16 Dash-8 aircraft on order. However, most of these, 11 to be precise, are listed as ‘unassigned’. Five of these have already received registrations and are white tail planes that were meant to be delivered to either SpiceJet or Jambojet. Six unassigned orders are yet to be built.
Meanwhile, two are meant for TAAG Angola Airlines, two for Ethiopian Airlines, and one for the Sécurité Civile of France. However, De Havilland states that it retains an optimistic outlook for the future of the Dash-8 program.
“Our objective is to resume new aircraft production at a new site at the earliest possible time, subject to market demand. We believe that our upcoming pause in production is a responsible and prudent measure that reflects current industry conditions and will limit strain on the market and De Havilland Canada’s supply base as the pandemic recovery occurs,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
Why the strike?
The facilities in Downsview where De Havilland has been assembling Dash-8s have been on a lease that is set to expire at the end of the year. While there is a potential two-year extension, the plant is scheduled for decommissioning in 2023.
Bombardier sold the De Havilland trademark along with the Dash-8 Q400 program to Longview Aviation Capital in 2019. The union representing De Havilland workers feel certain that when production resumes, Longview will move it to Calgary, which has been the cause for the strike over the past months.
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