EASA has provided certification for the five-bladed propeller equipped Fairchild / Swearingen Metro.
The aircraft, modified by M7 Aerospace, has just begun regular operations with German airline, Regional Air Express who participated in the test and certification flights with propellor manufacturer MT-Propeller.
Regional Air Express, based at Münster/Osnabrück airport in northwest Germany is also the first customer of the new propellers and will adopt the five bladed propellers for its entire fleet of four Metros.
The new five bladed propellers are built from composite fibre materials bringing a better performance and also a significant noise reduction of up to 50% in the cabin and puts the aircraft into the lowest environmental noise category.
The propeller also has lower maintenance costs and because of the use of composite materials corrosion is no longer an issue.
Around 350 examples of the Metro are in operation worldwide.
The CEO of Regional Air Express, Thorsten Richter said: "We have operated this type of aircraft for years and we are very satisfied that we are a precursor in the technical development.
"We changed over the propeller on our 10 seat VIP-Metro fist, which makes this aircraft unique in the world in case of comfort."
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