HANDOVER OF THE SECOND DO 228 NEW GENERATION TO EUROPEAN LAUNCH CUSTOMER

The second Do 228NG (New Generation) was handed over today in Oberpfaffenhofen to the Norwegian customer Lufttransport AS based in Tromsø. The aircraft with the serial number 8301 is now the first Do 228 of the new generation starting its operations in Europe.

As a long-standing RUAG customer, Lufttransport AS already operates two Do 228 aircraft. The new Do 228 NG will be used for passenger and cargo  transport between Longyearbyen and the unpaved airfields in Svea and Ny Ålesund on the island of Spitsbergen/Norway. The customers of Lufttransport AS using the Do 228NG are the coal mining company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kullkompani AS (www.snsk.no), the polar research company Kings Bay AS (www.kingsbay.no) and the Norwegian Coastguard.

The Do 228NG is a versatile multi-purpose turboprop aircraft. Apart from the transport of up to 19 passengers, the aircraft can also be configured as a special mission version for various special tasks in the field of maritime surveillance. Thanks to a state-of-the-art sensor system the aircraft is suitable for oil slick detection, border and fishery control as well as for environmental research purposes. The Do 228NG is a completely modernized and enhanced version of the Do 228-212 which was built until 1999. Fuselage, wings and tail unit are manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Kanpur (India) and transported to Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, where RUAG Aviation carries out aircraft final assembly, customized equipment installation, product conformity inspection and aircraft delivery.

RUAG is an international technology group for Aerospace (air and space travel) and Defence (security and military technology) with its holding company located in Berne (Switzerland). At its production sites in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Hungary and the USA RUAG employs 7,500 staff worldwide, around 4,000 in Switzerland – including about 10% apprentices.