Mesaba Saabs
 

How long does Mesaba expect to keep the Saabs around? I know the newer B models are 96-98' deliveries, which isn't that old for a turboprop workhorse. Right? I'd imagine they'd be around for a good while considering the smaller towns they serve, ie. Mason City, IA.

Better question would be; how long does NWA plan on keeping the Saabs around? Deliveries ended in Dec of 1998. The first one was October of 1996, so yes, the current airplanes (B+) are all less than 11 years old. We no longer keep track of airframe time/cycles in our aircraft logbook, so the crews don't have any visibility to the time on these aircraft.

Lots of rumors running around, but I think they will be here at least another 5 years. At that time we might see some chatter on a replacement T-prop.