De Havilland’s bulk and LCD Dash 8 freighters to come in 2025

De Havilland Aircraft of Canada is progressing past the engineering phase for its bulk and large-cargo-door conversions for the Dash 8-400, and plans to certify the programs in 2025.

The two new products build on De Havilland’s Dash 8-400 Quick Change conversion, for which it recently obtained Transport Canada certification.

“We feel that there’s significant market potential in the regional space to connect Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities into main distribution hubs for cargo carriers,” Vice President of Sales and Marketing Ryan DeBrusk says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect” recorded at the Farnborough International Airshow last month.

“We feel that the 400 is the right product with its speed and range capabilities and field-performance capabilities to allow carriers, whether it be traditional cargo carriers or non-traditional, to get into markets that they really economically could not do so today.”

De Havilland launched the three Dash 8-400 conversions at the Farnborough show in 2022. Since then, it has secured customers including Ethiopian Airlines, Peru-based ATSA Airlines, Kenya-based Advantage Air and United Arab Emirates-based Falcon Aviation.

“Without a doubt, the supply of aircraft is down from where it was,” DeBrusk said. “That said, I think there will be aircraft on a steady state over the coming years that are perfect for freight conversion, and so we’ll be looking to take advantage of that.”

Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on De Havilland as DeBrusk speaks with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee.