Indonesian Aerospace (IAe) and Composite Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM) have teamed up to study the feasibility of jointly developing a new turboprop short take-off and landing passenger aircraft.
IAe managing director of commerce and business development Iwan Soemekto says IAe and CTRM have commissioned an independent market research study on a proposed aircraft seating up to 50 passengers. IAe and CTRM have already joined forces to explore developing the aircraft, with IAe engineers conducting preliminary studies using materials left from the defunct 60- to 70-seat N250 turboprop project and CTRM studying the feasibility of using composites.
CTRM now supplies composite components to Airbus and would provide similar parts for the new regional aircraft. IAe would be in charge of airframe manufacturing and assembly.
In January IAe began discussing with potential Malaysian partners a 19-seat project dubbed the N219, which would replace the 26-seat NC212 as IAe's primary commercial aircraft programme. The Indonesian government has also directed a separate study on possibly reviving the N250 project, which has been stalled since 1998 but was never officially terminated.
Source: Flight International
