Manx Airlines Saab SF340 - G-HOPP

[Mooncrest]

Around about 35 years ago, Manx returned their only SF340 to Saab after experiencing several problems with the aircraft. Does anyone know exactly what was wrong with HOPP and what became of her post-Manx ?

Thankyou.

[billyg]

Originally Posted by Mooncrest

Around about 35 years ago, Manx returned their only SF340 to Saab after experiencing several problems with the aircraft. Does anyone know exactly what was wrong with HOPP and what became of her post-Manx ?

Thankyou.

KLM Cityhopper for a time after Manx , and currently on the Australian register.

[Flightrider]

It's a particular aircraft which had a history of being unloved. Birmingham Executive took on the sole 340 as an intended upgrade/replacement for the Jetstream 31s on long routes like Birmingham-Stuttgart and Birmingham-Oslo but found the 340 was simply too slow over those length of sectors for them, and headed off to the Gulfstream 1 instead, with G-BSFI (as it then was) being handed back to Saab.

Manx Airlines was then handed the Liverpool-Heathrow route by its parent company British Midland and took on G-BSFI which became G-HOPP. If I recall correctly, they had no end of difficulty with ground power and starter genny issues on this particular aircraft and also decided that the 340 wasn't for them. As billyg says, it is in Australia and went via Kendell Airlines into Rex, and it has been flying after a freighter conversion for Pel-Air, which is the charter offshoot of Rex. Rex happens to be the world's largest 340 operator with 60 of them, which is quite some fleet. Silver Airways and Loganair were second largest operators at different times - Silver have now phased out their 340s and Loganair look to be going the same way during this year.

[Flightrider]

Further info: Manx Airlines factfile states:

---

April 1986 Manx Airlines took over the Liverpool-London Heathrow route from British Midland, it's parent company.

In December 1986, Manx Airlines introduced the Saab SF340 on the Liverpool-Heathrow route, becoming the only aircraft of its type in UK services.

16th March 1988 the reintroduction of the Saab SF340 to service the Liverpool-Heathrow "Skyhopper" link took place.

---

Neither the 340 nor the Liverpool-Heathrow route are mentioned again!

[tubby linton]

There was a story told at the time that a BirmEx Saab 340 had fallen off the jigs during manufacture and that the aircraft was an utter dog.
Having spent the day thinking about it I remember going for an interview at Birmex and the Chief Pilot was not very complimentary about the aircraft.

[spekesoftly]

I read somewhere that the hangar crew at Liverpool referred to G-HOPP as "The Olympic Flame" .......... because it never went out!

[renfrew]

I flew on G-BSFI BHX/GLA on 30/10/85 when it was operating for BA.
I remember a good on-time flight with lunch served.

[ZeBedie]

Din't birmex have a rudder limiter fault and an engine fire warning on the same flight, meaning that to shut the engine down would have meant loss of control? I don't think it was handed back as unsuitable so much as totally not fit for use?
Didn't the ops director just take it bake to the factory and dump it there?

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by tubby linton

There was a story told at the time that a BirmEx Saab 340 had fallen off the jigs during manufacture and that the aircraft was an utter dog.
Having spent the day thinking about it I remember going for an interview at Birmex and the Chief Pilot was not very complimentary about the aircraft.

Notably it was not delivered (new, to Birmingham Executive) until five months after first flight, at a time when other adjacent aircraft on the production line were delivered after a month or two, which is possibly a pointer to manufacturing problems. BirmEx handed it back almost right on 12 months later, which was possibly a financing break point. It was their only Saab. Thereafter it was in a Saab lease fleet, including its two years with Manx, until sold to KLM in 1991. They dumped it after just six months as well, unlike the rest of their Saab fleet which lasted a decade more, and it went to Australia, who seem to have got to grips with it, having now run it there for more than 30 years.

Individual aircraft which compared to their compatriots are "hangar queens", or worse, complete lemons, are not unknown, we had a discussion here a while ago about the 747 which Richard Branson's onetime Virgin Atlantic partner Randolph Fields picked up cheap to start his Highland Express short-lived venture, where the aircraft's complete unreliability was a significant part of the financial failure; It had been a maintenance nightmare from new till the day it was prematurely scrapped for multiple major established operators, who passed it on from one to another it seems in the belief that the huge engineering costs of the previous operator must have finally fixed it. But no.

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by tubby linton

There was a story told at the time that a BirmEx Saab 340 had fallen off the jigs during manufacture and that the aircraft was an utter dog.
Having spent the day thinking about it I remember going for an interview at Birmex and the Chief Pilot was not very complimentary about the aircraft.

Yeah like the Beagle 206; rumour there was any of the aircraft on the production line had problems, they became military Bassets.
I remember when the S340 was 'introduced' at the Farnborough Air show (don't remember what year) but the SAAB rep (called Lars Bandling) was full of it and it seemed to operate OK; his only concern (in common with many other exhibitors) was that I put it in the display close to the end and he wanted it to fly earlier (everybody wanted their aircraft to fly earlier!)
Then after a few years it was re-branded as the SAAB 2000; never did find out why.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Then after a few years it was re-branded as the SAAB 2000; never did find out why.

The SAAB 2000 is a considerably stretched and re-engined development of the 340, so it's not really surprising it was given a new name.

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by DaveReidUK

The SAAB 2000 is a considerably stretched and re-engined development of the 340, so it's not really surprising it was given a new name.

Quite so. One of the significant differences was it was much faster. Of course, this all impacted on the operating costs. It ended up being too expensive overall, and didn't sell nearly as many.

The Saab 340 did hit a commercial sweet spot. Commonly 34 seats 2+1, it was an upgrade from the myriad 19-seaters, without having the costs of a 48-seater like the F-27 or 748, where a number of such types were getting long in the tooth. It also looked like a "proper" airliner. I think Saab (not an established airliner producer) built well over 400 of them in the 1980s-90s. One of its downsides was a notably slow cruise speed. It beat the 19-seaters, but got assigned to quite a number of more mainstream routes over time. The pax maybe didn't notice that much, but it couldn't do the number of rotations per day desired. A good number of lesser "business" routes need a morning and an evening rotation each way, and if the aircraft is slow one direction, or the other, ends up running at sub-optimal times.