For decades, the De Havilland Canada Dash 8 was the backbone of Tyrolean Airways’ turboprop fleet. Hardly any other aircraft type shaped the airline’s image at its home airport, Innsbruck, as much as this twin-engined regional aircraft.
Development: Successor to the Dash 7
The Dash 8 was developed as a more economical successor to the four-engined Dash 7, the aircraft with which Tyrolean Airways had begun flight operations in 1980. For the new design, De Havilland Canada deliberately gave up the Dash 7’s extreme short take-off and landing (STOL) capability, opting instead for two more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 engines instead of four smaller ones, which considerably reduced operating and maintenance costs. Rollout took place on 19 April 1983, the first flight on 20 June 1983, and certification followed in December of the same year. The Dash 8 joined the Tyrolean Airways fleet in 1985.
The Series at a Glance
- Series 100 (1984 to 2005): 37 to 39 seats, PW120/PW121 engines
- Series 300 (1989 to 2009): fuselage stretched by around 3.4 metres, 50 to 56 seats
- Series 400 / Q400 (from 1999): a significantly longer version with 68 to 90 seats, powerful PW150A engines and a cruise speed of up to 360 knots. The “Q” in the name stands for the active noise and vibration suppression system (“Quiet”) introduced from 1997.
Tyrolean Airways, and later the Austrian Arrows brand, operated several of these series over time, with the larger Q400 version predominating in later years.
Technical Features
Characteristic features of the Dash 8 include its tall T-tail, high-mounted wing, and engine nacelles with rearward-retracting landing gear. The aircraft can use runways as short as roughly 910 metres, which, while not matching the Dash 7’s extreme short-landing capability, still made it well suited to the demanding alpine flying conditions out of Innsbruck.
Change of Manufacturer Ownership
De Havilland Canada was acquired by Boeing in 1986, and the Dash 8 programme passed to Bombardier in 1992. Since 2019 it has belonged to Longview Aviation Capital / De Havilland Aircraft of Canada, reviving the storied “De Havilland Canada” brand name.
For the complete fleet of Tyrolean Airways, see: The fleet of Tyrolean Airways
Sources (selection)
Part of the fleet history of Tyrolean Airways. An independent, private history project with no connection to Austrian Airlines AG or the Lufthansa Group.