Return of Chautauqua SAAB 340's?

N905AW

Member
Aug 21, 2002
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www.usaviation.com
For a few weels now, there have been 5 SAAB 340''s painted in USAirways colors sitting at the Chautauqua maintenance facility in CMH. I talked to a mechanic and a pilot, both of which said it''s possible that they''re going back to Chautauqua to fly as USAirways Express again. If so, why is CHQ deciding to fly again props after switching to an all-jet fleet about a year ago? And what are they doing in Columbus? Thanks for any information.
 
Acording to the Republic prospectus (Chautauqua IPO) it states that several SF-340 leases expire in Sept. and they intend to return the remaining props at that time.

CMH is a maint facility for all their aircraft and all 4 codeshare fly there.
 
I didn't know that SAAB maintenance was done in CMH along with ERJ's. If they are being retiered though, why have then just been sitting around CMH for several weeks? Are they just waiting to be sent to the desert?
 
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On 10/4/2002 11:18:31 PM N905AW wrote:

I didn't know that SAAB maintenance was done in CMH along with ERJ's. If they are being retiered though, why have then just been sitting around CMH for several weeks? Are they just waiting to be sent to the desert?


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Aircraft leases require that when the aircraft are returned, they must be in a certain condition. Depending on what condition the aircraft are in, this can take some time, and not exactly done overnight. For example, the aircraft that US is returning are requiring swapping engines out from one aircraft to another so the the engine serial numbers match the leased aircraft.
 
According to official company information, Chautauqua flew its last turboprop in revenue service on September 30 and the last of the Saab crews began transition training for the ERJ's on October 3.
 
St. L., you got it right. CHQ flew our last revenue SAAB flight on the morning of 10-1, and all SAAB line crews are currently in ERJ school. The 5 or so SAAB's living outside the CMH hangar are there awaiting disposition or lease termination. They may be moved around some, but basically it's a place to keep them until we can put them in the desert or re-lease them. It's possible that some will go to Shuttle America at some future point, but nothing appears to be concrete yet. As of now we still hold 8 leases plus 2 owned aircraft. 5 are in CMH and the other 5 are scattered about. As 628AU said, some aircraft will need engine swaps, mechanical work, etc. before disposition.

When we retired our J-31's end of 2000, we ended up keeping 4 in the back half of our FWA hangar for a year or so, actually storing them for the owner until new leasee's were located.

[edited for spelling - CT]