Indonesia's new 19-seater entering crowded market

Indonesian Aerospace (IAe) is developing a new 19-seat aircraft, the N219. I spoke with the aircraft-maker's director of aero-structure Andi Alisjahbana, who sent me these pictures of the aircraft.

IAe already makes the CASA 212-200 under licence from Spain but the Indonesians are developing the N219 independently of CASA and argue that the Indonesian aircraft will not compete against the 212 because it is a slightly smaller aircraft and is a Part 23 rather than a Part 25 aircraft.

The Indonesians claim that the N219 will have a technologically-advanced tapered wing. Another selling point is that the cabin has three-abreast seating.

The product specs show the aircraft will have a maximum take-off weight of around 7t and its maximum payload will be 2.5t.

IAe will design the aircraft to take off from runways shorter than 600m-long.

It looks like the N219 will be competing for sales in the developing world against the Chinese-built Harbin Y12, which is also a 19-seat Part 23 aircraft. Although IAe is saying initially it will focus its sales efforts in Indonesia.

I've never really understood why China failed to pay more attention to developing its Y12 to capture the global market for 19-seat aircraft.

The competition in this segment had been pretty minimal and the Y12 is a good product. But now with IAe, Ruag (Dornier 228NG) and Viking Air (Twin Otter Series 400) coming into the market, things are going to get pretty crowded.