Andreas Aks has a little problem. His boss has tasked him with finding an answer to a pressing question their company is facing: What aircraft will be best for the airline in the future for its widespread network of short and thin routes, so typical for the origins of regional aviation? Aks is deputy chief operating officer at Wideroe, a regional airline based in Bodoe, Norway. It has a large fleet of Bombardier Dash 8-100s, -200s and -300s that it sometimes operates on extremely short sectors in a public service obligation network connecting remote towns and islands with the rest of the country. Aks and his colleagues know there is little time to lose: Even after the latest lifetime extension program, Wideroe's oldest Dash 8-100 will hit the limit of 120,000 cycles in the next three years. There is also huge pressure in Norway to be environmentally more sustainable. "People are willing to jump on the train now," Aks says, even if the trip is much longer. "We are at a tipping point."
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