Bombardier Commercial Aircraft today announced the delivery of its first 90-seat Q400 aircraft. The aircraft was handed over to India’s SpiceJet Limited, the launch operator for the extra-capacity, 90-seat aircraft. The aircraft is to be registered VT-SQA and starts its multi stop journey to India today. The airline currently operates 78 seater Q400.
The airline currently operates 22 Q400 aircraft, in addition to 36 B737 and 1 B737 freighter. The 90 seater Q400 has some performance improvements apart from the additional seats. The manufacturer claims that the increased passenger capacity allows 15 percent reduction of seat cost compared to previous standard Q400 aircraft. Other improvements under development include a 2,000-pound increase in payload capacity and an escalation of the A-Check and C-Check intervals from 600/6,000 to 800/8,000 flight hours.
Bombardier received certification of 90 seater Q400 on 1st August 2018, making it the first turboprop to reach that capacity.
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