Figure Will Be Applied Against New CRJ Order

Four months after dumping its fleet of Q400 turboprops after three landing accidents, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) plans to bill planemaker Bombardier for one billion Danish crowns ($198 million) in compensation.

Citing a report by the Danish trade journal "Take Off," Reuters reports SAS intends to apply that compensation against its order for 20 Bombardier CRJ regional jets, to replace its unloved Q400s. Negotiations between the two companies are wrapping up now.

As ANN reported, SAS dropped the twin turboprop regional airliner from its fleet on October 28... a day after the airline's third landing accident involving a Q400 in just over six weeks. In each of those accidents -- the first two of which occurred just four days apart -- the aircraft experienced problems with deploying their right maingear.

Despite the localized nature of the problem, Bombardier could not identify a single cause for all three failures. Separate investigations by the Danish government determined the first two incidents -- in Aalborg, Denmark on September 9, followed by another failure in Vilnius, Lithuania three days later -- were caused by a corroded bolt in each plane's landing gear assembly.

A November joint investigation by the European Aviation Safety Agency, Transport Canada, planemaker Bombardier and component manufacturer Goodrich determined the October 27 incident was not related to the first two incidents, however, and was not caused by a design flaw in the aircraft's right maingear assembly. A preliminary investigation singled out a loose rubber O-ring, which jammed and kept the gear leg from extending.

SAS is partly-owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The airline previously said it planned to seek compensation in excess 500 million crowns, or $79 million, for the incidents; the airline estimates the costs to replace the Q400s at between 700 and 800 million Swedish crowns in 2008.

FMI: www.flysas.com, www.bombardier.com