Haven’t Wideroe’s been buying every low time 100/200/300? They are getting desperate too with a wide network of 800m runways.

Afternoon Dick, not sure if you've seen this article. It's a couple of years old but might be what your looking for. https://www.bcbusiness.ca/industries...y-for-takeoff/

ESP Plus
 

Widerøe is in the process of extending the service life of their -100s to 160000 cycles. A similar program would solve the issue.
While there might be a need for a handful of new built -200s, I doubt the business case is there to produce them. Better to keep the existing ones flying.
I can't post links her, but if you search ESP Plus, a press release from 2002 from de Havilland aftermarket support should show up.

Supply chain problems for new parts is now a major problem for the classics, specially for parts that aren’t consumables or are not routinely overhauled.

Life extension overhauls are probably the best solution as there currently isn’t a suitable replacement being manufactured, and the ATR certainly doesn’t compare in terms of long term reliability and performance.

With regards to Lord Howe Island, the government would be better off upgrading the airstrip to accommodate regional jets.

Extendingthe runway does not appear to be an option - what did you have in mind?

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d90ca5fa60.png

I think extending for regional jets would be too much. But with some minor modifications, they should be able to increase TODA to 1 km (i.e. the whole paved strip by increasing the size of the turn pads). That should be enough for a normal ATR42-600 with some payload restrictions.

A runway extension feasibility study was completed for the Lord Howe Island board about six years ago. It looked at extending the runway 570m to the north-west, into the lagoon, which would allows the operation of Code 3 aircraft such as the DHC8-400. The preliminary business case found the extension would cost about A$200 million and was considered economically unviable.

No idea where it's at now, but I assume it won't go ahead without a significant amount of State and/or Federal Government funding.

According to Wiki there are but 382 inhabitants and a hard limit of 400 tourists (presumably concurrent rather than annual total).

There is a link in post #20 to the runway extension feasibility study.

Give it to Wagner, he’ll build it as Brisbane Far East

Next generation Albatross that is planned to be manufactured in Darwin may be a suitable alternative to support the Island, if the manufacturer can get investors.

Probably a great opportunity for a launch customer.

A relaunched turbine Albatross strikes me as even more unlikely to see the light of day as a resurrected Dash 8. Time will tell, I guess.

They’re pretty serious about it.

But I can’t see CASA being happy for it being used for Air transport for 400nm over water.

Private and niche work, probably a market.

Fly 200 miles? Try 128 !!
 

Captain Fathom, This may be just a slight thread drift however it is 128 nautical miles from Canberra to Sydney and there were 86.5 MILLION available seats on the route in the year to July 2024 - mainly those on the public teat like politicians and public servants.
Yes, there is a train that runs on tracks laid in the 1860's and thanks to the railway union historical society, it is now even slower than it was when new.
Drive, yes, a good option but there are so many potholes on the road you have to blow the horn in case there is a family living in one.

ATR has cancelled the ATR42-600S, due to lack of orders.

https://www.flightglobal.com/program...160741.article

It must be almost certified? Why not just keep it on offer? I seem to remember they had several Asian customers being seriously interested. Did it hit any technical roadblocks?