Swedish transportation manufacturer Saab had developed well-regarded fighter and training aircraft for its country during the Cold War, emphasizing ruggedness and simplicity of operation while still achieving high performance. In the early 1970s the company was studying opportunities to enter the civilian transport market and eventually focused on a size below the 50-70 seat class as exemplified by the Fokker 27 turboprop and Fokker 28 jetliner, as many potential Nordic routes could not fill such cabins. By the late 1970s the design called for a 30-seat, twin-turboprop, low-wing arrangement using the fuel-efficient General Electric CT7 engine.
In 1979 Saab brought on American manufacturer Fairchild as a 25% partner (with wings, tail, and engine nacelles made in the US and shipped to Sweden to mate with the fuselage, control systems, and outfitting). The type was officially launched in September 1980. Development work accelerated with the first test aircraft flying in January 1983 and service entry took place in June 1984 with Swiss operator Crossair.
The Summer 1985 launch of Republic Express to support the Memphis hub had gone amazingly well, using 19-passenger Jetstream 31 turboprops to provide frequent (4-5 runs per day) feeder service to smaller regional communities. Even before the service began, Republic quickly wanted to replicate the operation at Minneapolis/St. Paul both to counter the Mesaba/Northwest feeder partnership as well as to aid the drawdown of 50-seat Convair 580 flying. However, Republic also recognized a larger-gauge aircraft would be necessary to meet traffic increases.
At this time, new-build 30-seat options included the slow and unpressurized Shorts 330 and 360 models, the pressurized and fast Embraer 120 Brasilia, DeHavilland Canada’s Dash 8, and the Saab-Fairchild 340 – all finding their way into U.S. skies as commuter airlines started linking up with major carriers to build “fortress hubs.” Acquisition price, delivery availability, parts and support, and ease of training and operation were all factors to evaluate – and not every carrier chose new aircraft; Mesaba went for used Fokker 27s in the mid-80s, for instance. Republic and Express, however, wanted a consistent and modern fleet.
In June 1985 Express announced an order for 5 of the SF340 at the Paris Air Show. Two leased examples were already in operation by December 1985, with the full complement flying by summer 1986 and more on order. After the Northwest-Republic merger, even more Saabs were acquired with the fleet reaching 32 strong in the 1990s.
(Fairchild left the partnership with Saab in 1985, and the aircraft became known simply as the Saab 340 from then on.)
Meanwhile, Mesaba’s growth at the Minneapolis/St. Paul and Detroit hubs post-merger was initially powered by finding more Fokker 27s, but as these came from many previous operators, the individual airplanes’ differences and older 1970s construction were vexing to manage. Mesaba replaced the type with 25 examples of the Dash 8 in 1991, but later came around to the Saab 340 – and as Express evolved into Pinnacle and became a regional jet-only operator, Mesaba would pick up their 340 fleet.
At the time of the Delta merger, Mesaba was operating 49 copies of the Saab 340 out of all three Northwest domestic hubs. As Delta drew down Memphis operations, some of these aircraft even moved to Atlanta to replace ATR72 flights! However, by April 2011 Delta decided to use only regional jets for its feeder lines – while the Saabs had much lower fuel cost than jets, the jets offered more flying per day and more flexibility to substitute for larger aircraft.
Saab itself ended production of the 340 in 1999, but of the 459 assembled, nearly half were still flying in the early 2020s. With good maintenance and performance improvement programs, Saab estimates 340s will still be in the sky well into the 2040s.
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