Northwest’s standardization around the Saab 340 turboprop for its company-invested Airlink operations – due to the solid dispatch reliability and passenger acceptance it logged with Republic Express – resulted in orders for dozens of that frame, allowing Mesaba to replace its Dash-8s and Metroliners, and for Express I to continue growth.
The productive relationship with Saab Aircraft allowed for a proposal to introduce that airframer’s stretched and enhanced Model 2000, which was officially launched in May 1989 and saw its first flight in March 1992. Like its competitors in the regional airliner market, Saab saw a need for 50-seat offering to handle increasing traffic. The Model 2000 used advanced, low-noise engines and enhancements to its frame to allow for near-jet cruising speeds, while retaining the comfortable 1 x 2 cabin seating arrangement with 32″ seat pitch – such a craft could be swapped out for Northwest’s smallest DC-9 jets on short and intermediate-length sectors. In essence Saab was laying out the business case for the incipient “Regional Jet” boom of the later 1990s.
Its higher price (not offset enough by the potential higher productivity-per-employee savings), unfortunate launch timing (the first Gulf War), and eventual eclipsing by the Canadair and Embraer Regional Jets, resulted in none of the major U.S. carriers signing contracts – only 63 were built, with Crossair from Switzerland being the biggest operator. General Motors bought a few for use as corporate shuttles. Northwest was interested, but its own internal financial and ownership pressures stopped them from further consideration – the role Saab proposed went instead to the Avro RJ85, operated by Mesaba.
Saab did make several large-scale display models, and at least one of them hung at MSP’s Green Concourse near the entrance to the Airlink boarding area. A smaller-scale model version was licensed and photos of that are displayed here.
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