Indonesia Makes Mixed Progress with Airliner Programs

The R80 regional airliner still awaits funding, and the N245 remains in preliminary design. PTDI says that the smaller N219 is nearing its first flight.

Indonesia's PTDI is preparing to fly the N219, a 19-seat multi-purpose high-wing turboprop. [Photo: PTDI]

By Chris Pocock • Defense Correspondent

February 22, 2017

Regio Aviasi Industri (RAI), the Indonesian company that is trying to launch a new 80- to 90-seat turboprop regional airliner, is still seeking funding. It has received seed money from Indonesian investors and a commitment from Bandung-based Indonesian Aerospace (Indonesian acronym PTDI) to act as a subcontractor for full-scale development and production. Meanwhile, state-owned PTDI is continuing with preliminary design of its own regional airliner, a 50-seater designated N245. PTDI is also preparing to fly its other new high-wing turboprop, the 19-seat N219 multi-purpose aircraft.

The R80 project is the brainchild of former PTDI chief and Indonesian president Dr. B.J. Habibie, now 80 years old, who still strongly believes in the southeast Asian regional potential for advanced turboprop airliners. Under his leadership, PTDI (then known by the Indonesian acronym IPTN) launched development in the 1980s of a smaller turboprop airliner designated N250, and flew two prototypes in 1995-96. The N250 project was shelved in 1998 during the Asian financial and Indonesian political-cum-social crisis that led to Habibie’s short presidency of the country. Habibie and his son are major investors in RAI. which revealed the project in 2014.

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