Fairchild Dornier 328JET

The Fairchild Dornier 328JET is a commuter airliner that re-engines the turboprop Dornier 328 with two Pratt and Whitney Canada turbofans. Dornier designed it, first under the name 328-300, after customers reported that turboprops were noisy and less attractive than jets. Studies were finished by November 1996, the PW306/9 engine was chosen, and the programme was formally launched in February 1997. During 1996 the financially stretched Dornier was bought by the American firm Fairchild Aircraft, giving the combined Fairchild Dornier name. The prototype was rolled out at Oberpfaffenhofen on 6 December 1997 and first flew on 20 January 1998, and European and American type certification followed in 1999. A stretched 44-seat 428JET was under development, but weak sales in a crowded regional jet market ended production after 2002 and the company became insolvent. AvCraft, M7 Aerospace and later Sierra Nevada Corporation took over support of the fleet, and 33 aircraft were still in airline service in December 2019.