South Africa’s Denel Aerostructures is a business that traces its aviation experience back 60 years. And yet you may not have heard of the company.
Recently at the 2014 Africa Aerospace and Defence event, Denel announced plans to develop a small turboprop for commercial use. The model on the left is what is currently the vision of the aircraft.
The idea is to create an aircraft with seating for up to 24 people with cargo and use it for hub feeding in African markets, but more especially to offer point to point services between tertiary communities and avoiding hubs. Depending on configuration the aircraft is expected to be able to handle routes between 400 and 1,400 NM.
We spent some time this morning speaking with Mr Ismail Dockrat, CEO of Denel discussing their ideas.
Hats down to Denel, they survived so much and still trying to build country’s capability and do something useful. Worth of respect…