Sierra Nevada Acquires Dornier Specialist 328 Support Services

Sierra Nevada Corporation has acquired the UK and Germany-based 328 Support Services. The move was completed last week for an undisclosed fee.

The move is part of an expansion plan for Sierra Nevada, in which they will look to expand globally by reaching out to European markets. SNC has made great strides in the past decade, with expansions that include design, manufacturing, modification, certification, integration, and support of about 400 aircraft worldwide.

328 Support Services held all intellectual property rights for design, manufacturing, maintenance, and certification of the 200 Dornier 328 turboprops and 328 Jets in existence. SNC now holds IP rights and supplemental type certificates for modernization technologies. The Dornier 328 aircraft will be used for multi-mission applications for the U.S., including for transport, cargo, surveillance, and medical use.

“After many years with a close and successful working relationship, this move makes sense at many levels,” said 328 managing director Dave Jackson, who sees the match as a perfect fit. “328’s expert design, completion and type certification skills are a perfect complement to SNC’s portfolio of capabilities and we look forward to expanding further under the SNC umbrella.”

SNC did not go into detail about what sort of changes they would make to 328 Support, but they say to expect a close working relationship between 328 and 3S Engineering of Wichita, a certification specialist they bought in September of 2012.

The remaining 328 fleet is split evenly between jets and turboprops, with 133 in service and 42 in storage, according to Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets database. The largest operator is the US Air Force, which has 17 turboprops.

328 originally purchased the type certificate for the D328 jet and turboprop, in addition to the Dornier 428 and other assets, in December 2005 from Avcraft, who acquired it from Fairchild-Dornier.

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