Sol Lineas Aereas to flySaab 340s in Argentina

Poland’s Sky Expressteams with Direct Fly

S A A B A I R C R A F T L E A S I N G

Market ReportIssue 13 May 2006

Pacific Coastal introduces Saab 340 service to the Canadian West Coast

M E S S A G E F RO MMichael Magnusson Contents

Saab Aircraft Leasing posts strong year in 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Saab 340s to be reintroduced to the Argentine market. . . . . . . . . 4

Lufthansa flies Saab Safir again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Next series of Saab ads will feature

Loganair, OLT and Golden Air. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Saab 340 Global Operators Conference

to be held in October. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Family run Pacific Coastal Airlines

expands fleet with three Saab 340As. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7

OLT broadens international presence with

Malev cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Carpatair takes Saab 2000 fleet to 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

PPG Aerospace manufactures cockpit windows

for Saab fleet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Upcoming events with Saab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Sky Express teams with Direct Fly

for 340 passenger services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

ERA airlines see traffic bolstered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Mongolia's Eznis Airways to fly Saab 340B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Bimini Island Air flies Saab 340A

for Las Vegas real estate company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Saab operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Market Report is published by

Saab Aircraft Leasing.

Editor : Kelly Murphy

Emerald Media

usemerald@aol.com

Europe: Alison Chambers

Emerald Media

alison@emeraldmedia.co.uk

Design and Layout:

Aeris Graphic Design

jenaeris@aol.com

Cover photo by: Garry Cotter

Printed in USA May 2006

©2006 Saab Aircraft

Michael MagnussonPresident and CEO, Saab Aircraft Leasing

This issue has been timed to be distributedat the RAA Annual Convention in Dallas dur-ing May. It is the most important regionalaviation gathering of the year with all region-al airlines and suppliers well represented. Forus at Saab, it involves three hectic dayscatching up with all our customers, suppliersand possible new clients. I always say thatthe RAA convention is big enough to attracteveryone but small enough so you can actu-ally find everyone, something which can be a challenge at the giganticFarnborough and Paris Air Show events. I encourage our customers outside theUS to attend as well — I think you would find it worthwhile.

The industry as always continues to have its ups and downs.The large airlinesare doing better, even in the US, but they still have a long way to go.The con-tinuing rise in fuel prices is obviously making the recovery longer and harderfor the jet market. In our small corner of the market, we enjoy a robust busi-ness, with more deals being done and our inventory of aircraft shrinkingsteadily. During our RAA press conference I expect to be able to announce anumber of these deals. Interestingly, we continue to attract more business out-side the traditional airline market — be it cargo, corporate or governmentcontracts. Reasonably priced turboprops attract many!

The Saab 2000 market is proving to be especially strong. At the moment,we have no Saab 2000 aircraft on the ground. We will get back the major-ity of the Regional fleet during 2006, and are encouraged by the interest weare seeing already for these aircraft. Many of our Saab 2000 customers aredoing well, such as Carpatair, FlyLAL, Eastern and OLT, just to name a few.Withfour Saab 2000s flying in the US market for NASCAR racing teams, the versa-tility of the aircraft is attracting numerous operators. The Saab 2000 can do90% of what a regional jet can do, but at a lower cost and offering more flex-ibility with its shorter runway capability.

The other aircraft doing very well is the Saab 340B. Availability is very lim-ited and at SAL, we only have one currently in inventory. When ChicagoExpress with its 17 Saab 340Bs went bankrupt in 2005 because of its par-ent company problems, we thought it would take some time to place sucha large fleet, but that was not the case. Colgan took the entire fleet veryquickly, driven by its new contract with Continental Airlines. On top of that,Swiss sold nine remaining Saab 340Bs during 2005 in Europe, and AMRsold an equal number in the US. This year already, REX has bought threefrom CIT, Colgan is taking three from Bank of America, and a start-up car-rier in Mongolia has bought two Saab 340Bs from AMR.

For those of you planning to attend the Farnborough Air Show in July, we will bethere as usual at the main Saab chalet, so please come and visit us. As it issuch a big event, we do not want to miss anyone.

The year 2005 will be recorded in avi-ation history as the year of the turbo-prop comeback. New turboprop salessurpassed regional jet sales for thefirst time in 10 years and, in turn,Saab Aircraft Leasing completed avery successful year.

SAL placed 32 aircraft during lastyear, including 10 Saab 2000s and 22Saab 340s (See table below for details).These turboprops were placed withexisting customers such as Carpatair,Colgan, Eastern, IBC, Lithuanian,Loganair, OLT, Penair and REX. Inaddition, new customers weresourced during 2005 includingBimini, FlyLPI, Mash Executive,Pacific Coastal and RAF Avia.

Included in these transactionswere two dedicated Cargo Saab340As to IBC and RAF Avia, furthersecuring the Cargo market share forthe Saab 340. These latest orders willgrow the total of all Cargo Saab 340sto 12, adding to the five existingQuick Change aircraft.

As SAL enters 2006, the companyis already off to a great start withdeliveries for four Saab 340A aircraftin progress. Currently, SAL has thelowest inventory of available aircraftin many years, totaling only sevenSaab 340As, one S340B and no Saab2000s. Some 20 aircraft are scheduledfor lease returns during 2006, whichis nearly the same number of aircraft

SAL has been placing annually.“The transactions for 2005 show

a geographically wide spreadplacement among diverse customersclearly demonstrating the continuingworldwide appeal of the Saab air-craft,“ said Michael Magnusson,President and CEO of Saab AircraftLeasing. “We are also very pleasedthat third parties placed another 87Saabs to meet the demands of themarket.”

The worldwide fleet of Saab 340sand Saab 2000s is approximately500 units operated by nearly 50customers in 20 countries. ByDecember 2005, the Saab 340 fleethad accumulated 11.8m flight hoursand 13.2m cycles. The highest timeaircraft is at 44,500 hours, and thehighest time cycles is at 53,700, witha long useful life of 60,000 hours and90,000 cycles under current MRB. TheSaab 2000 fleet had accumulated970,000 hours and 956,000 cycles byDecember. The highest time Saab2000 aircraft is 23,200 hours and22,400 cycles reflecting a muchyounger fleet.

Tracking third party activitiesSaab aircraft were in demand during2005, therefore a large number ofaircraft have been placed. Theseconsist of 40 Saab 340As, 35 Saab340Bs and 12 Saab 2000s. This totalof 87 Saab transactions, added tothe 32 SAL aircraft, makes for anunprecedented 119 Saab aircraftplacements. SAL placed 37% of theSaab 340As, a few 340Bs (due to lackof aircraft availability), and 45% ofthe Saab 2000s.

3M a r ke t R e p o r t May 2006

Marke t Repor t

Saab Aircraft Leasing posts strong year in 2005

Saab Aircraft Leasing reports the following new business during 2005:

FlyLPI (Spain) Two Saab 340A Sale

IBC (USA) One Saab 340A Cargo Sale

RAF Avia (Latvia) One Saab 340A Cargo Sale

Bimini (USA) One Saab 340A Sale

Mash Executive(Lebanon) One Saab 340A Sale

Transwest (Canada) One Saab 340A Sale

REX (Australia) Two Saab 340A Sale

Pacific Coastal (Canada) Two Saab 340A Sale

Bridges (UK) One Saab 340A Cargo Sale

Loganair (UK) Two Saab 340A Lease

Colgan (US) Three Saab 340A Lease

Penair (USA) One Saab 340A Lease

Shuttle America (US) One Saab 340A Sale

Japanese Coast Guard Two Saab 340Bplus Sale(Conversion by Saab Aircraft)

Amber (Lithuania) One Saab 340B Lease

Eastern (UK) Two Saab 2000 Lease

Carpatair (Romania) Two Saab 2000 Lease

OLT (Germany) One Saab 2000 Lease

Lithuanian Airlines Four Saab 2000 Lease

Un-announced One Saab 2000 Sale

Total 32 (10 Saab 2000s and 22 Saab 340s)

Bold indicates new customers to the Saab family.

M a r ke t R e p o r t May 20064

Marke t Repor t

Argentina is seeing are-emergence of theSaab 340 with SolLineas Aereas' (SOL)recent purchase of twoSaab 340As. This new startup carrierwas created to fill the void left by thebankruptcy of Southern Wings.Planning to launch services in Julyfrom its Rosario, Argentina base, thetwo former Shuttle America Saab340s, will be delivered in June.

Director General Gustavo Cebreiro,an Argentinean aviation industryveteran, tells Saab Market Reportthat Sol Lineas’ parent company,Transatlantica, has many interests inthe travel sector and therefore haslong-term plans to include the airline.

The purchased aircraft will ini-tially fly twice daily from Rosario toCordoba, three daily flights toBuenos Aires’ Aeroparque downtownairport, and two daily flights be-tween Sante Fe and Aeroparque,with a stopover in Rafaela.

Bremen-based Lufthansa Flight

Training has lovingly restored a 1954

vintage Saab Safir training aircraft

for exhibition flights. The Safir was

developed by Saab in the 1940s as a

basic trainer for both military and

commercial airlines. Between 1945

and 1966, Saab built 323 of these

trainer s. It was considered an

excellent aircraft to train budding

airline pilots. The Safir was soon

purchased by Sabena in Belgium, Air

France, Government Flight School in

Netherlands, Garuda in Indonesia

and newly re-star ted Lufthansa in

Germany. In addition, the Air Forces

of Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria,

Tunisia and Ethiopia use the Safir.

In 1955, Lufthansa restar ted its

airline operations and owing to this

expansion needed to train future

pilots. This growth prompted the

purchase of two Safirs in 1954 and a

third joined in 1958. All three were

in service until 1967 when they

where replaced by Beech Debonairs.

By then Lufthansa had trained nearly

550 pilots on the Safirs.

The aircraft were then resold to

private buyers. One of the trainers

was purchased by E. Schmidt near

Hannover. The aircraft had logged

6000 flying hours, and Schmidt flew

another 1400 hours until his death in

1999. At that time, his family donat-

ed the Safir back to Lufthansa. The

aircraft was fully restored by a

dedicated group of volunteers.

Lufthansa Technik painted the Safir in

the livery it wore in the 1960s with

the famous “flying crane” on the fin

— after 160 hours it looked like

new. On August 2, 2002 the aircraft

was finally rolled out after its exten-

sive rework.

Today, it is based in Bremen and

used for pleasure flights and company

publicity events. The Safir is flown by

five active and retired fl ight in-

structors. The 1954 vintage airframe

proudly claims total flying time of

approximately 7600 hours. The his-

torical aircraft is stored in a Bremen

hangar properly situated just next to

OLT’s Saab 340s and Saab 2000s.

Lufthansa flies Saab Safir again

Phot

os b

y R

eim

ar W

endt

Saab 340s to be reintroduced tothe Argentine market

5

Marke t Repor t

M a r ke t R e p o r t May 2006

Saab Aircraft of America is pleased to

announce the Saab 340 Global

Operator’s Conference and Trade

Show October 2-5, 2006 at the

S h e r a t o n S a n d K e y R e s o r t i n

Clearwater Beach, Florida. A productive

event is being planned bringing the

vendor community and the Saab 340

operators together.

To date, two Gold sponsors are

commit ted : APPH Ltd and General

Electric. Also, Embraer Aviation Services

has joined as a Bronze sponsor.

For fur ther information contact:

Rober t Kline

Director Sales and Marketing

Saab Aircraft of America

+1 703 406 7308

Rober t.kline@saabus.com

www.saabaircraft.com

Building on its testimonial advertis-ing campaign launched last year,Saab Aircraft Leasing will unveilthree new ads during the RAAAnnual Convention in Dallas, Texas.One of this year’s three ads willfeature the largest European Saab

340 operator, Loganair. Flying as aBritish Airways partner throughoutthe United Kingdom with a 13-strong Saab 340 fleet, LoganairPres ident J im Cameron toutsthe Saab as “a robust aircraft.”Testimonials from OLT of Germany

and Golden Air of Sweden will alsobe highlighted in the ad series.These European airlines operate theSaab 340 and Saab 2000 in theirrespective fleets enjoying the bene-fits and versatility of both models.

Next series of Saab ads will feature executivesfrom Loganair, OLT and Golden Air

Saab 340 operators invited to October conference and trade show

s e r v i c e • c om

mi t m

en

t • de

ve

lop

ment • service • commitment • deve

lop

me

nt

• s

er v

i ce

• c

om

m

i t me n t • d e v e l o p m e n t •

Saab 340 Global Operators Conference

October 2 – 6 Clearwater Beach Florida

M a r ke t R e p o r t May 20066

Marke t Repor t

The Canadian West Coast has welcomed the air service of

Vancouver-based Pacific Coastal Airlines for more than 30

years. Known as the “home town airline”, Pacific Coastal

embodies its reputation as it is owned and operated by the

Smith family — father and four sons.

Family run Pacific Coastal Airlinesexpands fleet with three Saab 340As

Photo

:Gar

ry C

ott

er

Marke t Repor t

M a r ke t R e p o r t May 2006 7

In 1975, Daryl Smith saw a need toexpand the coastal and interiorregions of the vast British Columbiaarea. While his career started in thelogging business, Daryl gained hisaviation reputation from 36 years inthe business both as a pilot andowner of several regional carriers.

Growing the airline from its smallbeginnings, Pacific Coastal todayoperates out of 14 bases with a fleetof 24 various aircraft. Among theseare eight float planes, the DHC Beaverand the Grumman Goose, which arebased at the Port Hardy Airport. Avariety of fixed-wing aircraft, includingthe Beech King Air 200 and 1900,Embraer Bandeirante and Shorts 360,are based at Vancouver InternationalAirport’s South Terminal.

The airline’s most recent develop-ment has been the addition of threeSaab 340As to its fleet during the firstquarter. The Saabs will be used toreplace Shorts 360s on existing routesto Port Hardy, Bella Bella and Massetin the Northern Region and toCranbrook in the Southern Region.

The Saab 340’s appealing operating costs“We chose the 30-seat Saab 340 air-craft because of its lower operatingcosts,” President Quentin Smith tellsSaab Market Report. He underlinesthat the aircraft were purchased andare able to operate in and out of4,000 foot runways. “We are alreadystarting to talk about a fourth Saab340 as traffic continues to grow andwe look to sell our EmbraerBandeirantes,” he added.

While Daryl retains the titles ofCEO and Director, his four sons playa vital role in the daily operationsof the airline. Son Quentin has awealth of aviation experience inaddition to his degrees from theUniversity of British Columbia andEmbry Riddle Aeronautical University.Vice Presidents Sheldon and Spencerrun the Northern and Southern BritishColumbia regions with managementstaff experienced from tenure at AirCanada, AirBC, Trans ProvincialAirlines and others. While anotherson, Nevil, assists the maintenancedepartment in the Southern Region.

Gearing up for anotherbusy summer season,Quentin notes that whileabout 70% of PacificCoastal’s passengers areflying for business, agrowing number of ticketsare being purchased forleisure travel. He pointsto the Cranbrook marketin the majestic EastKootenays which attractsboth tourists and skiers.In the Northern Region,Masset is a favorite desti-nation for fishermen.

Looking ahead, Quentinunderlines the fleet mix ofthe 19-seat Beech 1900and the 30-seat Saab 340offering the right seating

versatility for the various markets whileoffering the frequencies required.

A well-established name on theCanadian West Coast, Pacific Coastalemploys more than 300 peopleincluding pilots, flight attendants,engineers, dispatchers, customer ser-vice agents and reservation, freightand office workers. Thanks to the Smithfamily, over the past three decadesPacific Coastal has successfullyexpanded air travel for passengers inthe coastal and interior regions ofBritish Columbia.

Top to bottom: Family owned and operated,

the Smiths pictured left to right: Daryl,

Quentin, Spencer, Sheldon and Nevil. While

Daryl's roots are in the logging business, he

gained his reputation through 36 years of

aviation experience as a pilot and owner of

several regional carriers.

Masset

Klemtu

Bella Bella

Port Hardy

Campbell River

Comox Powell River

Vancouver

Victoria

Anahim Lake

Bella Coola

Rivers Inlet

Hakai Pass

Ocean Falls

Williams Lake

Cranbrook

Trail

M a r ke t R e p o r t May 20068

Marke t Repor t

Expanding Romanian regionalCarpatair and sister airline MoldavianAirlines continues to grow its Saabfleet having signed for a 12thSaab 2000 with Saab Aircraft Leasing.The 50-seater will arrive in time toenable the company to debut on newinternational services from Timisoara to

Paris CDG on May 22. Flights willinitially be operated three times aweek, but President and CEO NicolaePetrov says he hopes the service canquickly grow to six flights weekly,depending on demand. Carpatair ispressing ahead with more destinationsto western Europe. In April it started

flights to Frankfurt, complementingits existing flights to Munich,Germany. Its proposed flights toLondon Stansted, however, will bedelayed until early 2007. These flightswill utilize 100-seat Fokker 100s.

Carpatairtakes Saab 2000 fleet to 12

Saab 340 and 2000 operator OLTof Bremen, Germany is widening itsinternational ties with a newly signedcode-share agreement with Malevof Hungary that centers on a newscheduled service between Debrecanand Budapest. The twice daily flight,which commenced on May 1, isoperated by OLT’s 33-seat Saab 340.

In addition, OLT CEO Gerd Weberhas confirmed the creation of a newsubsidiary company, Civis Air, thatwill make it possible for OLT’s aircraftto be flown by Hungarian pilots andbe maintained under a Hungarianregistration number from its newDebrecan base. The new Civis Air isexpected to carry 50,000 passengers toand from Debrecan by 2010, by whichtime the East Hungarian airport will

exceed 100,000 passengers a year.Malev and OLT’s cooperation alsoextends to Malev’s services toHamburg, Berlin and Munich andOLT’s flights between Berlin andBremen.

Independently owned OLT is oneof Europe’s longest establishedregional carriers. It was founded inEmden, Germany in 1958. Today theairline flies from Bremen to Bristol,Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, LondonCity, Nuremburg, Toulouse, Zurich andHamburg and operates a daily servicefrom Bremen to Paris on behalf of AirFrance Regional. Partner airlinesinclude SN Brussels and SAS, forwhom OLT offers passengers onwardconnections to Africa, Scandinavia,North America and Asia.

OLT broadensinternationalpresence with Malev cooperation

PPG produces about 70 spare win-dows annually in Huntsville, Alabamafor the Saab 340 and 2000. The com-pany makes them readily available toSaab operators globally from stockin PPG depots around the world.

During the past decade, theaerospace business of PPG Industrieshas delivered about 650 cockpit win-dows for the Saab 340 and Saab2000 (both aircraft models use thesame windows) since the Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania-based company startedmaking them in Huntsville in 1996.

Proven to be reliable and durableaircraft windows, the PPG windowsoccasionally need minor repairs andhave an estimated life of about25,000 flight hours or about 10 yearson a regional aircraft.

Using many proprietary produc-tion materials and techniques for all itsaircraft windows, PPG claims a superi-or product compared to its competitorsin terms of optical quality, temperatureuniformity and overall service life. Forexample, proprietary Herculite II

chemically strengthened glass reducesthe weight and increases the strengthof PPG’s aircraft cockpit transparen-cies. Also, using laminated glass, inwhich two sheets of glass surround aflexible vinyl interlayer, provides extrastrength and durability to aircraftwindshields from PPG.

Its beginnings...Founded in 1883 as PittsburghPlate Glass Company, PPG Industriestoday is a global supplier ofcoatings, glass, fiber glass and chem-icals. Headquartered in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, PPG has more than100 production facilities worldwideemploying over 30,000 employees.In 2005, PPG generated sales of$10.2 billion.

Since 1926, PPG Aerospace hasbeen a world leader in production anda manufacturer of original equipmentand replacement cockpit windshieldsand windows for the commercial,military, regional and general aviationmarkets.

Marke t Repor t

M a r ke t R e p o r t May 2006 9

Upcomingevents withSaab

2006May 22-25RAA Annual ConventionDallas, Texaswww.raa.org

June 5-7RACCA Spring ConferenceWichita, Kansaswww.raccaonline.org

July 17-23Farnborough International Air ShowFarnborough, United Kingdomwww.farnborough.com

September 6-8Regional Aviation Association ofAustralia ConventionSunshine Coast, Queenslandwww.raaa.com.au

September 27-29ERA General AssemblyBarcelona, Spainwww.eraa.org

October 2-5Saab 340 Global OperatorsConference & Trade ShowClearwater, Floridawww.saabaircraft.com

October 17-19National Business Aviation AssociationOrlando, Floridawww.nbaa.org

November 5-7Air Transport Association of Canada2006 Annual General MeetingVictoria, British Columbiawww.atac.ca

PPG manufactures cockpit windows for Saab aircraft

10

Marke t Repor t

M a r ke t R e p o r t May 2006

Warsaw, Poland-based Sky Expressrecently took delivery of its fourthSaab 340A, coinciding with anexpansion into passenger operationsfrom April 11. The regional cargooperator, which has three 340 QCversions, is teaming with virtualairline, Direct Fly to offer regulardomestic and international passen-ger flights from Poland, bypassingthe traditional Warsaw hub. Flightsfrom Warsaw to Wroclaw andGdansk will also be offered.

Direct Fly, via www.directfly.pl,will offer a strong network of sched-uled services linking Gdansk withBerlin, Bydgoszcz with Berlin, andCopenhagen and Lodz with Berlin.Domestically, it will use Sky Express’Saabs and crew to serve flightsfrom Gdansk to Krakow, as well asto Warsaw. In addition, it will runcharters to the Ukraine.

“This is a very exciting develop-ment for us — being able to support

direct, south to north of Polandroutes, without a stop in Warsawand we are very pleased to be movinginto passenger operations withDirect Fly,” said General ManagerContracts Jacek Roszak. Sky Expresshas been a Saab customer sinceOctober of last year, using the air-craft for freight flights for UPS andTNT. The newer 340s complementa fleet of six Let 410 UVP-E. Twoof Sky Express’ aircraft have beenpurchased — one has been leasedfrom Saab Aircraft Leasing, whileanother two have been acquiredfrom Skyways. The newest aircraft toenter the fleet will not be a standardpassenger version.

Paving the way for futureSaab aircraft in EasternEuropeSaab Aircraft Leasing sees a grow-

ing market in Poland, which willyield a strong need for 30-seat aircraft

in particular. The Saab 340 is anideal upgrade aircraft and good forpathfinding new routes too, saysSAL Vice President Europe DagWaldenström. The last few yearshave seen a significant increase inthe demand for air services to andfrom Eastern Europe, with theregion now largely incorporated intothe European Union (EU). In 2004,the nations of Czech Republic,Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia alljoined the EU and, in 2007, Bulgariaand Romania are set to follow suit.

Latest statistics provided byOAG for March 2006 show anoverall increase in frequency by13% and capacity by 15% for theEastern European market (excludingRussia). This represents an addition-al 5,700 flights and just over 715,000seats available to and from EasternEurope respectively, compared withMarch 2005.

Sky Express teams with Direct Fly for340 passenger services

European Regions Airline Associationmembers saw their passengertraffic increase 6.3% during 2005.Load factors averaged a record61.5%. Eurocontrol’s program tominimize enroute delays appears tobe working, delegates heard, as ERAgathered for its spring meeting inCopenhagen. This is reflected inairlines’ average sector time increas-ing in line with average sector dis-tance (74 minutes from 72 minutes in2004, on distances of 550km, up19kms from last year).

E R A P r e s i d e n t A n t o n i sSimigdalas, COO of Aegean Airlinesof Athens, noted: “We can stop talk-ing of recovery and now talk aboutprogress.” Once again the merits ofthe turboprop were to the fore, ashigh fuel prices refuse to go away.SAL, which has recently seen existingcustomers in Europe add to the fleet(including Eastern Airways of the UK

and Carpatair of Romania) reports itonly has a few Saab 2000s availableand when used aircraft come on tothe market, they are quickly placed. Itis also seeing new markets such asPoland expand with new airlines in-vesting in Saab 340 equipment (seerelated story on page 10)

“The pendulum is certainlyswinging back for turboprops,” statedGECAS Senior VP RJ Programs ToddFreeman, who while having many50-seat regional jets to place, had toacknowledge the record 150 ordersplaced for turboprops last year.

Saab Aircraft Leasing looksforward to meeting ERA memberairlines at the New Routes’ NewRoute Europe networking eventin Warsaw during May 21-23(www.newrouteeurope.com). ERA’s26th annual meeting will be held inBarcelona during September 27-29.

M a r ke t R e p o r t May 2006 11

Marke t Repor t

ERA airlines see traffic bolstered turboprops continue their popularity

Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Bimini

Island Air has based its second Saab

340A in Las Vegas, Nevada recently

and will fly charter flights for a local

real estate company.

Founded in June 1993, the Bimini

companies provide a diverse arena of

services from aircraft brokerage,

maintenance and sales, to corporate

and pleasure charter flights to the

Bahamas and surrounding areas.

Bimini’s fleet also includes the Cessna

402, Metro III, Falcon 10, Cessna

Caravan, Lear 25/35, Gulfstream I and

an Astra.

The fir st Saab 340B for a new

regional airline in Mongolia, Eznis

Airways, has recently been delivered.

Eznis has purchased two Saab 340Bs,

formerly operated by American

Eagle. Saab Aerotech in Linköping

overhauled both aircraft. The first

30-seater completed the long deliv-

ery flight to Mongolia and was met

by enthusiastic airline employees.

Aerolitoral Mexico 13

American Eagle USA 79

Bimini Island Air USA 2

Calm Air Canada 7

Colgan Air USA 38

Corporate Express Canada 1

FGI USA 1

Hendrick Motorsports USA 3

Indiana University USA 1

IBC Airways USA 3

JMJ Flight Services USA 1

Joe Gibbs Racing USA 1

Mesaba Airlines USA 50

Murray Aviation USA 1

Napleton Aviation Group USA 1

Pacific Coastal Airlines Canada 3

Peninsula Airways USA 7

Provincial Airlines Canada 2

Shuttle America USA 4

Sky Bahamas Bahamas 1

TAG Guatemala 1

Transwest Air Canada 2

OMNI Portugal 2

Overland Airways Nigeria 1

RAF-AVIA Latvia 1

Regional Airlines France 4

Sky Express Poland 4

Sky Taxi Poland 1

Swedish Air Force Sweden 9

Swedline Sweden 2 1

EXPRESS

R

MOTORSPORTSMOTORSPORTSMOTORSPORTSMOTORSPORTS

Air Åland Finland 2

Amber Air Lithuania 1

Avitrans Nordic Sweden 6

Blue 1 Finland 5

Carpatair Romania 2 10

CCA Czech Republic 4

Darwin Airline Switzerland 4

DOT Lithuania 1

dauair Germany 3

Eastern Airways Great Britain 4

Fly LAL Lithuania 4

Fly LPI Spain 1

Golden Air Sweden 11 4

Kenya Airways Kenya 2

Lagunair Spain 4

Loganair Great Britain 13

Mali Air Express Mali 1

Moldavian Airlines Moldavian Rep 1 2

Nordic Airways Sweden 1

Nordic Solutions Air Services Lithuania 3

Norse Air South Africa 6

OLT Germany 2 3

Operator Country 340 2000Europe & Africa

Operator Country 340 2000Americas Europe & Africa

Asia & Australasia

Operator Country 340 2000

Air Nelson New Zealand 15

Air Rarotonga Cook Islands 1

Cosmic Air Nepal 1

Hokkaido Air System Japan 3

Japan Air Commuter Japan 11

Japan Civil Aviation Bureau Japan 2

Japan Coast Guard Japan 2

Macair Australia 4

Regional Express Australia 25

Yeti Airlines Nepal 2

R

MOTORSPORTSMOTORSPORTSMOTORSPORTSMOTORSPORTS

EXPRESS

Saab Aircraft Leasing, Inc.21300 Ridgetop CircleSterling, Virginia 20166 Tel: +1 703 406 7200 Fax: +1 703 406 7224

www.saabaircraftleasing.com

www.saabaircraft.com

Saab AerotechSE-581 88 LinköpingSwedenTel +46 13 18 00 00Fax +46 13 18 51 15

Saab Aircraft of America, LLC21300 Ridgetop CircleSterling, Virginia 20166 Tel: +1 703 406 7200 Fax: +1 703 406 7222

Saab ope ra to r s

Saab Aircraft Leasing4-7-13-205 MeguroMeguro-ku Tokyo, Japan 153-0063Tel +81 3 3792 4300Fax +81 3 3792 4315

Saab Aircraft LeasingPostal address:Box 7774, 103 96 Stockholm Street address:Sveavägen 17, 11th Floor111 57 Stockholm Tel +46 8 463 1400Fax +46 8 463 1409 M a r ke t R e p o r t May 2006