Fairchild Aerospace 428JET

Type (Muster)
Regional jet (Regionalverkehrsflugzeug)

Country (Land)
Germany (Deutschland) / USA

Manufacturer (Hersteller)
Fairchild Dornier
PO Box 1103
82230 Wessling
Germany

Phone: 49-8153/30-4950
Fax: 49-8153/30-4454

General (Allgemeine Angaben)
Crew (Besatzung): 2 plus cabin attendant
Passengers (Passagiere): 44 at 31 in (78,5 cm) seat pitch (Sitzabstand)
Baggage compartment (Gepäckraum): 8,7 cu m

Power plant (Antrieb): 2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308B turbofans
Thrust (Schub): 2 x 32,9 kN (7400 lbs)

Dimensions (Abmessungen)
Length (Länge): 24,69 m
Height (Höhe): 7,09 m
Span (Spannweite): 21,78 m
Wing area (Flügelfläche): 47,8 sqm
Aspect ratio (Flügelstreckung): 11.4

Cabin length (Kabinenlänge): 13,55 m
Cabin width (Kabinenbreite): 2,18 m
Cabin height (Kabinenhöhe): 1,89 m

Weights (Massen)
Operating weight empty (Einsatz-Leermasse): 11645 kg including crew
Max. payload (Nutzlast): 4855 kg
Max. fuel (max. Kraftstoff): 4640 kg
Max. zero fuel weight (max. Masse ohne Kraftstoff): 16506 kg
Ramp weight (max. Rollmasse): 19950 kg
Max. take-off weigth (max. Startmasse): 19800 kg
Max. landing weight (max. Landemasse): 18610 kg

Performance (Flugleistungen)
Max. cruising speed (max. Reisegeschwindigkeit): 765 km/h
Max. operating altitude (max. Flughöhe): 9450 m (31000 ft), or 10670 m (35000 ft) optional
Take-off field length (Startstrecke): 1370 m
Landing field length (Landestrecke): 1220m
Range (Reichweite): 1665 km (900 NM) with full payload

Cost (Preis)
At the official announcement, a price of 12,5 million US-Dollars was claimed, about 1,5 million more than a 328JET.
Fairchild Dornier had said that its investment in the 428JET would be 150 million US-Dollars. How much was spent until cancellation is not clear.

Customers (Kunden)
By June 2000, customers for the 428JET included:

Atlantic Coast Airlines: 30 orders announced on 13 July 1999, togehter with 25 of the 328JETs. Another 55 options (executable on either type) were also taken. This represents the launch order for the 428JET, Fairchild Dornier said at the time. The deal is conditional for now, as it needs the approval of United Airlines.
Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings: 30 options, which are either for the 328JET or the 428JET were announced on September 9, 1999. The aircraft are destined for feeder operations for Delta Air Lines.
Skyway Airlines: 5 orders, announced at the RAA conventionin May 2000. The 428JETs were to have ben delivered beginning in 2003.
Air Alps Aviation: 4 orders and 3 options, announced at the ILA in Berlin on 7. June 2000

Competition (Konkurrenz)
Embraer ERJ 140
Embraer ERJ 145 (previously known as EMB-145)
Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet

Remarks (Bemerkungen)
The 428JET was planned to be a stretched version of the 328JET, seating ten more passengers. It was intended to offer a "family" or aeroplanes to better counter the Embraer ERJ-135/ERJ-140/ERJ-145. According to Fairchild Aerospace, the 428JET will retain the same type-rating as the 328JET. The main differences ot the two aircraft are:

a fuselage stretch of 4,3 m, incorporating a new center fuselage section. Also, a new door is added
an redesigned wing, featuring 0,53 m more chord as well as increased span and rounded wingtips.
more powerful engines. The PW308B was selected. This is a version of the PW308A that powers the Hawker Horizon business jet. Thrust reversers will be fitted
some systems changes like ECS and bleed-air de-icing in plase of boot de-icers in the 328JET
strengthened landing gear

History (Geschichte)
The 428JET was officially announced at the RAA show in the US and at the ILA airshow in Berlin on May 19, 1998. At that time, the first flight was targeted for April 2000, leading to type certification in November and first deliveries in December of that year. This schedule did not hold for long, however, as Fairchild Aerospace had to concentrate all efforts on the 528/729/928JET development.
In June 1999, the company then signed an agreement with Israel Aircraft Industries, which got responsibility for systems engineering and integration, flight testing and certification support. The contract value was put at 80 million US-Dollars.
An extension of the IAI deal was announced on September 30, 1999. The Israeli company was now also tasked to fabricate the fuselage (in place of Aermacchi) and perform final structural assembly of the 428JET. Value of this work was given as potentially more than 600 million US-Dollars. Outsourcing more work to IAI was done to speed up the development programme and avoid interference with other Fairchild projects, as the company is woefully short of experienced engineering staff. Outfitting, painting and delivery of the 428JET was said to stay at Oberpfaffenhofen, however, so that quality control remained in house.
The Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the 428JET was completed in February 2000. PDR marked completion of the conceptual design phase and the beginning of the detailed design process.
It was expected that the first of three test aircraft will fly in July 2001 and first deliveries were scheduled for the spring of 2003, much later than at first planned (December 2000, then August 2002).
Then, on August 8, 2000, Fairchild Dornier announced that a comprehensive assessment of the 428JET program, had found that changing market conditions no longer allowed a viable business case to be made for continuing the program. The statement of Chairman and CEO Chuck Pieper said: "Immediately following the infusion of new equity, we launched a 100 days effort to ground all programs in reality. We evaluated all of our businesses with the aim of absolutely meeting our customers' schedule and service commitments, as well as our financial objectives," Pieper said. "It became clear that the 428JET program, while technically on track, was not viable commercially."
According to Pieper, several developments influenced the decision to terminate the program. "The market has changed in the last year. There is consolidation in the US airline industry, which is resulting in very large volume purchases by a small number of carriers. Furthermore, recent pilot scope clause developments now include 50-seat aircraft, indicating the 428JET has more overlap with these existing successful products. This not only puts us at a disadvantage in the market when scarce slot capacity favors 50 seaters but also puts additional pressure on pricing. The combination of these factors has resulted in a substantial lowering of the expected margins, even though the airplane itself attracted market interest," he said.
"We gave it our best shot," Pieper said. "Even at the beginning of the program, over a year ago, the team knew it stretched our resources. As a result, we depended on a higher than normal share of the non-recurring and recurring work to be done by suppliers. However, with the lower average selling prices there is not enough margin in the product sales to accommodate all the players. With this not being a risk or revenue sharing program, Fairchild Dornier assumed most of the development costs. Tougher competition means margin pressure, and a business has to have enough contributed value added to make a difference. We have that on the 328JET, 728JET and 928JET. We didn't on the 428JET. It was a good product that complemented our high-wing product line, but the structure in a more competitive market just didn't allow for a positive cash picture," he said

Last updated August 14, 2000

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