Saab History

SAAB welcomes Estonian Airlines as new 340 customer

Posted on 06. Apr, 2007 by Ryan.

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

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Saab-Scania historical film now shipping

Posted on 22. Mar, 2007 by Ryan.

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: Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

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.

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The Next Saab Film? – Cast your Vote!

Posted on 17. Mar, 2007 by Ryan.

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.

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

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Saab Trio – Aircraft, Automobile & Trucking

Posted on 31. Jan, 2007 by Ryan.

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.

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Technology transfer takes flight, and it flows both ways

Posted on 31. Jan, 2007 by Ryan.

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.

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Saab 340 Conference

Posted on 31. Jan, 2007 by Ryan.

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

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Saab Aircraft has memorable 2006

Posted on 31. Jan, 2007 by Ryan.

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

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A Lifetime of Saab Contributions

Posted on 27. Nov, 2006 by Ryan.

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.

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