At the 55th edition of International Paris Airshow, German aircraft manufacturer, Deutsche showcased its revolutionary D328eco® aircraft mock-up, with the enhanced customer experience centre. The 40-seater turboprop has already garnered a lot of interest from the regional aviation sector due to its various new initiatives like low-emission propulsion system, advanced avionics and ergonomic seating with intend to elevate passenger comfort. In an exclusive interview, Nils Heuer, Sales Director, Deutsche Aircraft speaks with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World on the various aspects of the aircraft. Excerpts…

Tell us about Deutsche Aircraft and the new D328eco?

Deutsche Aircraft is a German aircraft manufacturer based in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich in Germany. We build on the heritage of aircraft pioneers and Dornier’s reputation for design, quality and innovative aircraft solutions. Dornier was one of the founders of the German aviation industry that had its headquarters in Oberpfaffenhofen and that developed the original Dornier 228 aircraft. We are now bringing it back to the market as the improved and stretched Dornier, i.e., D328eco.

The first D328eco test aircraft (TAC 1) at their headquarters in the Airtech Campus in Oberpfaffenhofen

What’s the USP of D328eco aircraft?

The D328eco is the first new regional turboprop aircraft in the 21st century. If you look at other aircraft in this size category in the market, they are mainly based the technologies from 30 years ago. For the first time in the 21st century, we are really developing a new regional turboprop aircraft that comes with the Garmin G5000 Prime flight deck which is unique in this kind of aircraft category and the very modern and efficient and reliable Pratt & Whitney PW127XT-S engines.

What are the seat configurations and key features of D328 Eco aircraft?

It’s a 40-seater regional aircraft that brings comfort to the regional aviation world for the passengers. At the same time for the airline operators it delivers the right economics. It’s a very efficient aircraft where lot of focus is on reducing the operating cost in general and maintenance cost of this aircraft in particular. With a new engine, the advanced aerodynamic design of the wing and the fuselage, it achieves a very low fuel burn for this aircraft. At the end, it helps to achieve the right operating economics which are important for regional airlines that operate such an aircraft on low demand routes.

What is the production schedule and what are the delivery timelines?

This aircraft will be certified in Q4 2027 and delivery will start thereafter. We are developing this aircraft in our headquarters in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich and the production will take place at our new final assembly line in Leipzig which is currently under construction. Our maximum production capacity will be 48 aircraft per year.

Which markets you are looking as your priority market?

We are looking at three types of markets. On one side, what we call the replacement market. These are established regional aviation markets like North America, Europe, Australia where we have an existing regional aviation industry. But thee airlines are flying today 25+ year old aircraft that are not in production anymore and inefficient and expensive to maintain. So, we are targeting the replacement of these aircraft.

Then, we are targeting growth markets like India which is one of our key markets. We see a lot of potential and thanks to the development and the support from the government with the UDAN scheme that helps now establishing better regional connectivity for the Indian people. There is a big potential to serve the Indian communities, especially in the areas where you have challenging operating environment like in the north and in the Himalayan regions as well also in regions where tourism plays a role for example the Lakshadweep islands. D328eco could be an ideal aircraft to link these islands.

The third segment we are targeting with the D328eco is what we call the multi-role segment. So, applications in the field of air ambulance, firefighter, cargo transport also maritime patrol or ISR applications. The original D228 used to be very successful already and we are also convinced that the new D328eco will be successful in this field.

D328eco – Garmin G5000 PRIME Cockpit

What are the key modifications made on this aircraft?

In general, this aircraft brings the right performance for regional aviation which mostly operates in challenging environment. One such issue always faced is the shorter runways because their might be constraints due to various reasons. Our focus is that D328eco has good so-called short take-off and landing (STOL) performance and it requires only 800 metres short runways and you can achieve 70 per cent load factor and still have a range of 250 nautical miles.

We have a dedicated cargo area at the back that has plenty of room to store bags from the passengers. There is also a completely new redesigned cabin now with large overhead bins so that passengers can also take their carry-on bags, trolley bags and put them in the overhead bins.

With two to three years of delivery timeline how do you look forward to capitalize market like India?

The 328eco has some special performance characteristics that make it really unique for India. It allows Indian regional airlines to fly to places where other aircraft can’t go. As I mentioned above, it can operate in the Himalayan regions because it has a 30,000 feet ceiling, that’s the highest ceiling in its class. It has the highest climb rate in its class, and also the highest single engine ceiling, its outstanding performance characteristics allows airlines to develop markets where they’ve never been able to go before.

And then on the other side, if you look at especially touristic regions that the Indian government wants to develop and promote. For ex, Lakshadweep Islands, where D328eco could be used to serve these small islands as bigger aircraft can’t operate due to runway constraint and insufficient demand.

What would be crew requirements and seat configuration?

It’s a 40-seater aircraft and the global practice is to keep a single cabin crew also inside. The seat configuration is in a 2+1 format where we have two seats on the right side and one seat on the left side. The cabin has a 30” seat pitch and it has sufficient leg space where we have only one seat leg and the other side of the seats is attached to the wall. The seats can be also configured or modified as per the requirement of the individual clients.

The eco means economical in larger terms? Is this the USP for this aircraft?

The regional airlines operate in thin markets so, it’s key for them that they have an aircraft that delivers the right operating economics. It has to be an economical, viable aircraft for the airlines, and this is what we want to highlight.

This aircraft comes due to the turboprop technology with ecological advantages. It burns 40 to 50 per cent less fuel than a comparable jet and therefore it reduces carbon emissions and also saves the airline a lot of money. The D328eco will be 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel compatible at entry into service.

There are few Indian companies already supporting the D328eco project. Kindly elaborate on the association?

As our focus, we always wanted to have a part of India in this aircraft as we wanted to use the strong Indian aviation sector to play a role in this aircraft. Amongst others,we have Dynamatic Technologies as one supplier who is supporting the rear section by developing the rear fuselage for the D328eco aircraft. We have Cyient, which is developing the cabin management system for this aircraft under the “Make in India” initiative and then we have Sasmos who will do the Electrical Wiring Interconnection System (EWIS) of the aircraft.

So, there’s a large part of India in this aircraft and we are happy to have the Indian aviation industry as one contributor and partner in this programme.