De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300
The first stretch: 3.4 m longer and up to 56 seats · First flight 1987 · In service 1989
Boeing announced the stretched Series 300 soon after buying De Havilland Canada. The first -300 was the original Dash 8 prototype, lengthened with fuselage plugs, and it flew in its new form on 15 May 1987. Canadian certification followed in February 1989, and Time Air of Alberta took the first deliveries that year.
The fuselage is 3.43 m longer than the -100/200, the wingspan grows to 27.4 m, and the cabin seats 50 to 56. Power comes from PW123-series engines of up to about 2,500 shp each. Like the other models it became the Q300 once noise suppression was standardised in 1996.
Production ended in 2009; 267 had been delivered. The -300 remains common with Air Canada Express, Widerøe, QantasLink and Air New Zealand Link, and in 2017 Chorus Aviation completed the first programme to extend the type's service life.
