De Havilland resumes Dash 8-400 completion works

Following a three-month suspension, De Havilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC, Toronto Downsview) has resumed the completion of its remaining DHC-8-Q400s having reached an agreement with labour unions.

“The company is completing the aircraft currently under production. The announcement follows the ratification on October 26, 2021, of collective agreement extensions by members of Unifor Locals 673 and 112 who work at the Toronto Downsview site,” the manufacturer said.

It did not specify any details of the agreement.

De Havilland announced in February 2021 it would suspend the production of the Dash 8s for an unspecified time after the units already under construction had been completed. The lease on its Toronto Downsview facility is set to expire by the end of 2021, following the 2018 sale of the site to the Public Sector Pension Investment Board. Following the February announcement – which cast doubt on the future employment of around 500 staff – unions began a strike in July, halting the completion of partially-assembled aircraft still on the production line.

The manufacturer underlined that the resumption did not amount to the permanent resumption of the type’s production.

“De Havilland Canada maintains an optimistic outlook on its future and the future of the Dash 8 program and has stated publicly that it intends to be ready to meet new aircraft demand as the industry recovers from the pandemic. Our objective is to resume new aircraft production at a new site at the earliest possible time, subject to market demand,” it said.

The manufacturer will proceed with the decommissioning of the Downsview facility, scheduled for 2023, but underlined that some of its machining tools and equipment would be mothballed. Production will only be reactivated if there is enough demand, it stressed.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that there are fifteen Dash 8-Q400s awaiting delivery, including two for Ethiopian Airlines, two for TAAG Angola Airlines, and five white-tails (three originally due for SpiceJet and two for Jambojet, and the remainder unassigned).

Since 2018, De Havilland of Canada has been owned by Longview Aviation Capital, which also owns the manufacturer of DHC-6-400s, Viking Air (VKN, Victoria Int’l).