When China’s D’Long Group announced last year it would buy the Fairchild Dornier 728 development program from bankruptcy administrators, many questioned the little known company’s ability to attract the estimated $1 billion investment needed for certification and series production. Nearly a year later, the sketchy information the company has so far released has engendered no more confidence that it commands the resources to carry out Fairchild Dornier 728 development, much less organize an adequate support structure.
As part of the estimated $10 million purchase, the Chinese group acquired both prototypes and all the program’s fabrication and assembly tooling and established a new subsidiary called Fairchild Dornier AeroIndustries at Dornier’s original manufacturing facility near Munich, Germany. Following last year’s static tests, D’Long personnel carried out a series of power-on tests in February, and proclaimed the first prototype would fly by late this year. According to D’Long’s stated schedules, certification and the start of production would happen in 2006.
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