Saab History

Film Credit: Colgan Air

According to the Buffalo Business Journal, the Washington, D.C. area just got another incredible boost to the continued utilization of the trusty SAAB 340 passenger turboprop airplane as of late.

This recent addition of new flights in and out of Washington, D.C.’s Dulles airport is very good news to the family owned and operated Colgan Air, Saab Aircraft Leasing company based in the Washington, D.C. area.

United Airlines has announced it has struck a deal, through Colgan Air Inc., to begin connections via the two cities to Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport.

Photo Credit: SAAB Group

There has been a lot of news on the topic of Argentina in the Washington, D.C. area lately. This news begins with the recent Saab sighting at the Embassy of Argentin last week, and now this week, the Argentina Air Force will be buying count them, four, SAAB 340B aircraft through SAAB Aircraft leasing here in the Washington, D.C. area.

This is incredible news for the local Saab Aircraft Leasing company.

Here is the official press release from SAAB Aircraft Leasing:

Argentine Air Force to buy four Saab 340B aircraft
[2007-11-19 15:29]

Saab Aircraft Leasing in cooperation with Saab Aerotech is pleased to announce the formal decision of the Argentine Air Force to buy four Saab 340B aircraft during 2008 and 2009. This is a culmination of a four year process to select a new middle-size transport aircraft for the Argentine Air Force.

The total budget for the aircraft and logistic support package is approximately 34 million USD spread over five years.

These aircraft will be used to serve remote areas in the Patagonia region in southern Argentina, replacing old Fokker F27s. The Argentine Air Force ran an international RFP process in order to select the best package of aircraft and support services. Saab Aircraft Leasing was declared as winner of this process and the two parties are now formalizing a final agreement that includes four completely overhauled Saab 340B aircraft together with a complete logistic package of spares, manuals, tools, ground support equipment, training of pilots and mechanics, Saab on-location technical support as well as a “Parts Exchange Program” on the rotables including propeller and landing gear.

Two aircraft will be delivered during the second half of 2008 and the other two during 2009. All four aircraft will be based and maintained in Commodoro Rivadavia. They will be operated by the Air Force-managed airline LADE serving the Patagonia region. For this purpose all aircraft will have gravel modification as well as expanded communication equipment. They will also meet the latest civilian requirements on TCAS-2, TAWS, expanded DFDR, secured cockpit doors, etcetera.

“This shows the capabilities of the Leasing organization to bid and win an international bidding process for a government contract by using the resources within Saab Aircraft Leasing and the support of Saab´s logistic provider Saab Aerotech,” says Michael Magnusson, President of Saab Aircraft Leasing. “Previously Saab Aircraft Leasing and Saab Aerotech have secured contracts for Saab 340B aircraft from the Swedish Air Force as well as the Japanese Coast Guard.”

“This is an exciting project for my team in Sterling as it will involve delivery of a complete logistics package for the operation in Patagonia. This will utilize all the support expertise currently available in the Sterling, backed up by Sweden,” says Robert Kline, Head of Operations at Saab Aerotech of America.

Saab Aircraft Leasing manages a portfolio of about 200 Saab 340 and Saab 2000 aircraft leased to 25 airlines around the world. With 35 employees, its head-office is in Washington, DC and regional offices in Stockholm Sweden and Tokyo Japan.

Saab Aerotech is Sweden´s leading supplier of integrated support solutions. With capabilities and competence spanning the defence, civil security and commercial sectors, Saab Aerotech provides a broad range of services and products for cost effective life-cycle support of customer systems and platforms. Saab Aerotech is a business unit of the Saab Group.

Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions ranging from military defence to civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents and constantly develops, adopts and improves new technology to meet customers´ changing needs.

Photo Credit: SAAB Aircraft Leasing

Beckley Raleigh County Memorial Airport in nearby West Virginia recently secured the Saab 340 to their fleet. Evidently, the general manager, Tom Cochran, welcomes this arrival!

Please read the full story on this arrangement with Colgan Air and the airport.

Here is a notable quote from Tom Cochran:

“It’s a very dependable aircraft (the Saab) & This is a turbo aircraft!”

This recent acquisition for another lease of a SAAB aircraft indicates that these aircraft, brand new in 1983, continue to be in high demand due to build quality and other factors.

According to the official SAAB leasing website, their are currently no more SAAB 340’s available to lease. The only SAAB’s currently available include 1 remaining 2000 model! It appears that demand definitely seems to be outpacing supply. Doesn’t this situation indicate that it is time for SAAB’s aircraft division to design, build and introduce a new commercial airliner since they introduced the 2000 back in 1988?

SAAB Aircraft celebrated their 70th anniversary at their home of Linköping, Sweden at the end of August and I have just received their press release and photographs that describe this celebration.

It is important to note that while all SAAB aircraft were present during the celebration, there was one exception which was the SAAB Scandia 90 commercial airliner. The last remaining SAAB Scandia 90 resides at a museum in Bebedouro, Brazil, South America. SAAB tried to buy this for their 50th anniversary in 1987, their 60th in 1997 as well as their recent 70th anniversary this year, but the owners continue to ask for a figure that is deemed unreasonably high time and time again.

Aside from the airplanes, the Saab Performance Team as well as legendary rally champion, Erik “On The Roof” Carlsson were also present amongst other notables for this very special event as you will see in the photographs above.

Here is a press release that describes a segment of this 70th anniversary celebration.

Guests celebrated Saab’s 70th anniversary
8/31/2007

A flyby of Saab’s aircraft started the customer day that is part of Saab’s 70th anniversary. Around 700 customers, partners, suppliers, analysts and media came to join the celebrations.

The VIP day took place at the Saab compound in Linköping, Sweden, on Friday August 31. Åke Svensson, President and CEO of Saab wished everyone a warm welcome.

“It is fantastic to have you here today. I am so proud of this company” he said by way of introduction. A short film about the history of Saab was shown and Åke Svensson spoke about Saab’s development from 1937 to the present day.

”Focus has changed. Previously the emphasis was on one large Swedish customer, today we have broadened our horizons and the internationalisation has increased.”

Saab in the future

The emphasis of the seminar that followed was on the future and what Saab might be working on at the time of the 100th anniversary in 2037. The seminar discussed what the future might hold within civil security and air (unmanned aircraft), sea (naval command and control systems) and land areas (multistatic radar).

Lennart Sindahl, business unit manager for Saab Aerosystems, and Michael Franzén, project manager for UAV operations in the business unit, spoke about the possibilities of unmanned aircraft. In their vision of the future we will be flying with unmanned passenger aircraft several years before Saab celebrates 100 years.

Lars Tossman, business unit manager for Saab Underwater Systems, and Richard Colling, point of contact Sea, spoke about the importance of flexible, autonomous underwater vehicles in the future.

Air show with all still flying Saab planes

The day was rounded off with a flying display featuring nearly all Saab’s aircraft that are still flying: Saab B17, Saab 32 Lansen, Saab 91 Safir, SK60, Saab 35 Draken, Saab 37 Viggen, Saab 39 Gripen and Saab 2000.

Photo Credit: Saab Aircraft

Saab welcomes Estonian Airlines as new Saab 340 customer

Estonian Airlines, the national carrier of the Republic of Estonia and part of the SAS Group, has signed a contract with Saab Aircraft Leasing for the lease of two Saab 340s. The aircraft will join its fleet in May and September to commence scheduled flights from the airline’s Tallinn Airport base.

The Saab 340s will replace Estonian Airlines larger 50-seat Fokker 50s and become the mainstay complement to the airline’s six-strong Boeing 737-500 fleet.

“Estonia has a number of new regional routes to develop, and currently we are studying up to 23 destinations. St Petersburg will be the first market to be developed, historically a significant market for the country” said Estonian Airlines Managing Director Börge Thornbech.

Welcoming Estonian as a customer, Saab Aircraft Leasing’s Senior Vice President Dag Waldenstrom commented: “We very much look forward to delivering these aircraft into Estonia and working closely with Börge and his team. We are especially pleased Estonian will be flying the Saab 340 to Stockholm Arlanda Airport with a new link from Saaremaa in the Baltic Islands.

Last year Estonian Airlines carried some 689,800 passengers to a total of 17 destinations and held a 45% market share at its Tallinn Airport base.

Saab Aircraft Leasing manages a portfolio of about 200 Saab 340 and Saab 2000 aircraft leased to 25 airlines around the world. With 35 employees, its head-office is in Washington, DC and regional offices in Stockholm Sweden and Tokyo Japan.

Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions ranging from military defence to civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents and constantly develops, adopts
and improves new technology to meet customers’ changing needs.

For further information, please contact:
Michael Magnusson, President and CEO, Saab Aircraft Leasing
Telephone: +1 703 406 7220

www.saabgroup.com
www.estonian-air.ee

You have casted your votes and the vintage 16 milimeter promotional film by Saab-Scania will be shipping later this week.

Here are your poll results:

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This film covers the 900 convertible concept, SAAB 340 Aircraft as well as the 9000 and some other footage and again, I believe it was created between 1984 and 1986. The 16mm film below was donated to Saabhistory.com, thanks to long-time former Saab Cars USA, John Moss. This film is about 15 minutes long I believe. Total conversion cost $109 for this single 16mm film. Total time to convert 2 weeks.

I have provided a clip of the film for you to take a look at below of the end of the film that to managed to take with my point-and-shoot digital camera in video mode with an old noisy rented 16-mm projector to share with you.

The Next Saab Film is going to be up to you, because we have what was the next film in line which was a 16 milimeter promotional film by Saab-Scania that covers the 900 convertible concept (some photographs), SAAB 340 Aircraft as well as the 9000, so I would have to say it was done between 1984 and 1986. The 16mm film below was donated to Saabhistory.com, thanks to long-time former Saab Cars USA, John Moss. This film is about 15 minutes long I believe. Total conversion cost $109 for this single 16mm film. Total time to convert 2 weeks. I have a clip of this film here, take a look at this link.

We also have three new contributions thanks to former Public Relations rep of Saab Cars USA, Dan Prescott. These contributions consist of promotional films of the Saab 9-X, 9-3X and the Michilin Race of Champions. These films are 4:30, 5:30 and maybe about 20 minutes in length respectively. I believe the 9-X and 9-3X films are longer than the films we have in the archive already which are 2:28 and 2:30, so perhaps there is more footage or something altogether different! Total conversion cost $132 for 3 films to be converted. Total time to convert 1-2 days.

Total contributions $115.50, so we have just about enough for either set of films.

From the information we have here about the 4 films total, and a choice beween one group of 3 or one single film which may not be as “exciting” as these newer films may be, I have decided to place place a poll here so that you can cast your vote.

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Below are images of the films that in analog format prior to conversion for your reference.

Here is another one of my most favorite photographs depicting the former Saab-Scania, Inc. partnership featuring all of their products.

For the record, Saab-Scania, Inc. began in 1969 and concluded in 1994.

On the topic of Saab Aircraft and Saab Automotive, here is quote from 1986 by a spokesperson of Saab-Scania of America, Inc. when they were located in Orange, Connecticut.

The aerospace connection; technology transfer takes flight, and it flows both ways - auto industry

Ward’s Auto World, July, 1986 by Drew Winter

“It’s not all hype,” says Daniel Petit, a spokesman for Saab-Scania of America Inc. He says engineers from Saab’s aerospace operations contribute to design and development of Saab car interior ergonomics, seats, dashboard designs and illumination, plastic material usage, vehicle electronics, metal-bonding techniques, and metal fatigue testing.

Aerospace engineers also helped to develop a wireless ignition system, improving Saab truck aerodynamics, and even aided in development of carbon-fiber suspension arms for Saab race cars. The Aircraft Div.’s Cray super-computer, Mr. Petit says, is tapped for auto design work and crash testing.

As a follow up to the recent posting on the great year Saab Aircraft leasing has had, I should mention that the Saab 340 operators, had a conference held this past fall in Clearwater, Florida where they gathered to “talk Saab..aircraft that is”.

It is good to know that the Saab Automobile enthusiasts are not the only ones that have conventions and festivals.

For more information on this conference, please visit their site at Saab Group

Saab Aircraft Leasing has had a memorable 2006 on the Saab 340 and 2000 aircraft according to a recent report at Sky Control. It is good to hear that Saab Aircraft Leasing had a good year like their former counterpart, Saab Automobile has had.

It is interesting to note that in this article, they state that Saab Aircraft’s headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Saab Aircraft leasing is technically in Northern Virginia.

For more information. please visit the source at Skycontrol

Erik Norberg, from Sweden, the designer of the Viggen-X model for the X-plane flight simulator I have written about earlier, has gratiously provided some background of his lifetime of contributions to the Saab brand.

Mr Norberg is a former chief systems engineer of the JA37 Fighter Interceptor and actually flew the two seater viggen once. Mr. Norberg has about 25 hours in a real viggen simulator and as far as he knows, his flight characteristics are good and accurate.

Here is a quote about how he put together the Viggen-X simulator model.

“We use source material orginiating from government or SAAB as well as sharp eyes and and cameras.”

Here are some additional pieces of information from Mr. Norberg.

I’m in my late 30’s, I practiced at the production line of SAAB 340 Aircraft in -88 and -89,
at the avionics test unit.

I did my examimation work from royal institute of technology at SAAB. I
constructed a rudder force and position meassuring system for the JAS39
Gripen Aircraft.

I Worked with the RADAR systems for all Viggen versions then, at
Swedish Defence Materiel Administration.

I was the chief systems engineer of the Viggen between -96 and -00,
responsible for mid-lif update.

I have done production test flights with SAAB 340, and flew the Viggen
once (SK37). I have about 25 hours in a JA37 simulator and also
projected an upgrade for it.

I have had four SAAB automobiles.

I love SAAB’s and currently my SAAB is a corporate car equiped with
infotainment system and an integrated phone. I used to own the other cars.

My father had a metallic green SAAB 900 -94 until hist last breath.

I probably will own a SAAB to my last breath too… ;-)

Best

/E

For more information on their project visit http://www.viggenxfiles.se/

For photos and videos of the Viggen-X project on this site, please visit http://www.saabhistory.com/2006/11/21/saab-viggen-x-plane-project/

For more info on the X-Plane project, visit http://www.x-plane.com/ or
http://www.x-plane.org/

Here are some recent photos Erik Norberg has gratiously provided saabhistory of his Saab Automobile.

Thank you Mr. Norberg for sharing your wonderful background with the Saab brand.

As your votes have indicated you enjoy the vintage photography and video footage, so here is a great vintage photo of the Saab-Scania group as well as a video. Enjoy!