China's - Orient Aviation

operators currently using the airplane willmake up the initial demand, mainly for fleetrenewal,” said Curtis.“We are talking to Malaysia Airlines. TheTwin Otter is ideal for the short strips theyare going into after resuming their regionalairline.“The used market is unbelievably tight.Prices are increasing and I don’t know ifthere are more than one or two airplanes onthe market right now.“The age limit on ent r y into theIndonesian market is a barrier as well. Whilethe Twin Otter is perfect [for the country],you can’t bring a used one in.”The shortage of new aircraft was behindTrans Maldivian’s decision to buy new.“Finding light, well-maintained aircraft isnext to impossible and they often requiremajor refurbishing or rebuilding,” said theairline’s managing director, Bram Steller.Even so, demand wasn’t sufficient for aclean-sheet design for a new 19-seater. “Themarket just isn’t large enough to justify aU$100 million investment to develop anairplane specifically for it,” said Curtis.“The Twin Otter is recognised as a worldbrand and our investment is going to beconsiderably lower getting the programmegoing again.“Anyway, if you tried to certify the TwinOtter today, it wouldn’t end up being theTwin Otter.”With the original type certificate stillstanding, only amendments are needed froma regulatory standpoint to include updateson the aircraft.Higher output Pratt & Whitney enginesare being provided, composites will makean appearance on the doors and other noncriticalareas and there will be a completelymodernised cockpit. “It’s just natural. Thereare huge opportunities from a safety pointof view and from an avionics perspective,”said Curtis.Some new nuts and bolts also are neededfor an aircraft first designed in 1965. “Wehave about 140 individual engineeringchanges, some big like the cockpit, somesmall – pumps and valves and things thatwhich are just no longer available,” he said.“We are also trying to reduce the emptyweight to make the aircraft a bit moreappealing.”List price is US$3.2 million, withamphibious and ski landing gear extra.More than 800 Twin Otters were built in23 years of production. Nearly 350 are flownby commercial airlines today, with many‘More than 800 Twin Otters werebuilt in 23 years of production.Nearly 350 are flown bycommercial airlines today’others still in private hands or in militaryservice in countries such as Australia,Cambodia, India, Indonesia, New Zealandand the Philippines.Of the 60 to 70 carrying passengers orfreight in the Asia-Pacific, 16 are based inNepal, 12 in Indonesia, seven in Papua NewGuinea and two in the Solomon Islands.Airframes for the new aircraft will to bebuilt in British Columbia, with final assemblyand delivery carried out in Viking’s Calgaryfacility. Premises have been expanded, buteven so Curtis is concerned about meetingdemand. And that’s where Asia may comein if the company decides to increaseproduction beyond the present 18 a year.“My challenge is that the nearestproduction slot available is in 2011,” saidCurtis. “We have a relatively low-rateprogramme and we have sold so many it isNose to tail operations for Twin Otters in the MaldivesThe Maldives workhorsesbeing pushed out. To put it in a kind way,some of our customers have trouble planninga year out, let alone five.“We have been offered deals which areLetters of Intent to buy 100 airplanes, butthere’s no solid commitment. We don’t wantto play this game. We could say yes, we aregoing to double production to meet demand,but to be frank we need to walk before we canrun. We haven’t even built the first one yet.”Even so, offshore assembly is beingmooted at some stage, with Indonesia andChina mentioned. “It’s premature, but whenyou think about how we could increase theproduction rate, there’s no question that’swhere the opportunities are, depending onthe size of the market,” said Curtis.“We know, for instance, to get into Chinawe are going to have to do some portion ofthe final assembly there. We are open tothese [possibilities], but it would be least24 months away before we would study theoptions. If the demand is real and our orderbook is exceeding our production capacity,we are going to need to look at going outthere.”The five aircraft on order by Trans Maldivian Airways will be among theirown kind when they begin arriving at Male in the Maldives in 2009. At thepeak of the tourist season, the world’s largest concentration of Twin Otters,operated by Trans Maldivian and Maldivian Air Taxi, take off and land in a constantstream on four water runways at Male airport, taking passengers from internationalflights to their resort destinations. Forty can be flying on any given day.“They go in and out, in and out, from six in the morning to six at night,” saidBram Steller, managing director at Trans Maldivian. “It’s a daylight operation, butin those 12 hours not a minute is wasted. They are queuing up in the air, or on thewater, nose to tail, waiting for take off.”NOVEMBER 2007 ORIENT AVIATION 63