CommutAir Receives first Dash 8-300 from Austrian Arrows, 3/27/11 – OPShots.net

The first -300 series Dash 8 for CommutAir begins its transformation into a United Express aircraft inside the CommutAir hangar in Cleveland. Photo: Chuck Slusarczyk Jr. - OPShots.net

(Cleveland, Ohio)  – CommutAir, a division of Champlain Enterprises, took delivery of its first -300 series DeHavilland Dash 8 aircraft on Sunday, 3/27/11, when N837CA touched down in Cleveland at the conclusion of a two day, six-leg, ferry flight from Innsbruck, Austria.

Formerly registered OE-LTB, this is one of five Dash 8-314’s purchased from Innsbruck, Austria, based Tyrolean Airways, (flying as Austrian Arrows, an Austrian Airlines feeder.)  A two day ferry flight was initiated from Innsbruck on March 27, (photo here),  routing westbound through Prestwick /Glasgow, Scotland (PIK), Keflavik, Iceland (KEF), and on to Narsarsuaq, Greenland (UAK), where it spent the night.  Starting early the next morning, it left Greenland bound for Goose Bay (YYR), in Newfoundland, Canada, onward to Burlington, Vermont (BTV), and finally arriving in Cleveland, Ohio (CLE) at 5:55PM local time.

CommutAir plans to use the larger 50 seat aircraft to increase capacity on some of its more popular routes out of Cleveland and Newark, New Jersey (EWR), where they have served as a Continental Connection carrier, and are now in the process of becoming a United Express carrier due to the merger in progress.

The very next morning, the aircraft was moved inside the CommutAir maintenance facility at Hopkins airport to begin the transformation into an entirely different aircraft.  In addition to a new paint scheme and refurbished interior, all the aircraft will be converted from -314 models to -311 models to satisfy US regulatory requirements.  All maintenance, interior, and conversion work will be completed in Cleveland, while the exterior paint will be applied in Indianapolis, Indiana (IND).

When the -300 series enters service in Cleveland, it will be one of the few airports where you can see all four types/marks of Dash 8’s in operation.  Air Canada Jazz operates -102’s back and forth to Toronto, CommutAir already operates a large fleet of -202Q’s to multiple destinations, and Colgan Air operates the penultimate -402Q series to Chicago (ORD), Baltimore (BWI), and Raleigh-Durham (RDU) as well.

Chuck Slusarczyk Jr. – (OPShots.net)