With a little delay, the first de Havilland Dash 8-400 of the German airline Avanti Air shows up in its new livery. This is simply designed and shows the company logo on the tail and the airline name on the engine case. The first commercial flight will take place at the end of April 2022.

Avanti Air used ATR72 turboprop aircraft for many years. A few years ago they switched to jets, to be precise to Fokker 100. This excursion is now over, because the small airline flies with turboprops again. This time, however, de Havilland Dash 8-400 was procured. There are various reasons for this, as the company explained to Aviation.Direct.

Given the currently high fuel prices, the most important reason is the lower fuel consumption. The Fokker 100 could not have landed in Paros, but one can compare the fuel burn at least fictionally. The de Havilland Dash 8-400 requires around one ton less kerosene, which has a strong financial impact. Although the seating capacity is 20 percent lower, the carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by about 50 percent. And then Paros comes into play again, because such charter orders could simply not have been carried out with the Fokker 100.

The speed of the Dash 8-400 also played a role in the decision. This is significantly higher in direct comparison with the ATR72. However, the latter pattern also requires less fuel. To continue the fictitious example from the previous paragraph: the de Havilland Dash 8-400 has a flight time that is only around 100 minutes longer than the Fokker 20 over this distance. The bottom line is that Avanti Air can perform two more rotations per day compared to the ATR72 with the company's own mission profile and is therefore on a comparable level with the Fokker 100. However, the operating costs of the turboprop aircraft are significantly lower.

Tour operators are also affected by high fuel costs

Costs are also playing an increasingly important role on the charter market, because tour operators have to calculate the financial consequences of the corona pandemic and cannot afford any major experiments. Airlines also feel this, because airlines cannot make “cheap offers” in tenders from tour operators or if the tour operator finds them uneconomical for his business model, the trips simply no longer take place. Thus, the price is what counts for tour operators for charter flights, and in view of the sharp rise in fuel costs, this topic is more relevant than ever. Some tour operators are just happy if they can switch to cheaper turboprops on routes that are not mass business, because jets would make it economically complicated. For most vacationers, it is the price that counts in the end and if the personal pain threshold is exceeded, they book another trip or stay at home.

Avanti Air believes it has an important niche to fill given the fact that there are very few turboprop operators active in charter and ACMI business left in Europe. It's not a mass business, but a kind of market niche where you want to make an attractive and competitive offer to customers, who are mainly tour operators. According to its own statements, the airline has not received any further significant corona aid – apart from short-time work. Apart from natural fluctuation, only two employees were given notice of termination, but for completely different reasons.

Aircraft are financed from own funds

Ever since the company was founded, Avanti Air has been a carrier that has always been active in niches and has been extremely successful. They looked for gaps in the market and managed to do business in such a way that investments could be made without any external financing. The budget does not allow for brand-new aircraft, but on the used market one is not dependent on the goodwill of banks or investors, but if it fits, one buys the aircraft with one's own funds. Traditionally, Avanti Air attaches great importance to tidy cabins, so that they always look new.

But what does Avanti Air actually intend to do with turboprop aircraft? This year, a Dash 8-400 will be stationed at Graz Airport in Austria. Charter orders for tour operators are carried out from there. Orders from Austria or Memmingen are served on Friday, Saturday and Sunday traffic days. On the remaining days, the turboprop aircraft will be used for other customers from other airports. So there is already a lot to do in the summer of 2022.

Two more Dash 8-400 are coming soon

Avanti Air aims to add two more units to the Dash fleet. However, no specific date has yet been set for the incorporation, but according to the company, this could happen quite quickly. However, one does not stress and is proud that after some delays with the D-AASH one has the first de Havilland Dash 8-400 in its own colors.

The formal acceptance by the Federal Aviation Authority will be carried out on Friday. In the coming week, the pilots will carry out some training flights from Paderborn. At the end of this month, a ten-day charter chain will be flown for a tour operator. The first commercial flight with this machine type will therefore be carried out in April 2022. This aircraft will then be available for short-term ad hoc charter and ACMI services before it will be flown from Graz, Klagenfurt and Memmingen over the summer for tour operators from the end of May 2022.