Saab 340

what is it?

The Saab 340 (also Saab SF340) is a joint Swedish and American twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30–36 passengers and, as of 2023, over 250 operational aircraft remained in active service worldwide. Under the production arrangement in which production was split 65:35 between Saab and Fairchild, Saab constructed the all-aluminum fuselage and vertical stabilizer along with final assembly of the aircraft in Linköping, Sweden, while Fairchild was responsible for the wings, empennage, and wing-mounted nacelles for the two turboprop engines.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 turboprops · low wing · retractable tricycle gear · 21.4 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 524 km/htop speed
• range 1,352 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 34passengers
• size 13.2 tmax take-off weight
• built 459made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 43 years ago, in 1983.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.0× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 21.4 m: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,352 km: 8× Amsterdam to Brussels.

turboprop: A jet-style turbine turning a propeller: efficient on short hops.

spec sheet

first flight

1983-01-25

introduced

1984

status

still flying

number built

459

role

turboprop regional airliner

origin

🇸🇪 Sweden

makers

Saab Group

engines

2× General Electric CT7-9B / CT7-5A

crew

2

passengers

34

length

19.7 m

wingspan

21.4 m

height

7 m

max take-off weight

13.2 t

top speed

524 km/h

cruise speed

524 km/h

range

1,352 km

ceiling

7,620 m

wings

low wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

ICAO code

SF34

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.