Davidson DA-9
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The Davidson DA-9 is a single-aisle trijet produced by the Davidson aircraft company of Letrastan. Introduced in 1965 with Air Letrastan as a launch customer, the DA-9 was known for its resilience and high performance compared to its main competitors, the BAC 1-11 and Douglas DC-9. The DA-9's high power-to-weight ratio and eight-wheel main landing gear allowed it to make use of Letrastan's poor airport infrastructure at the time, operating from short unpaved runways. These characteristics made it especially popular among airlines in less developed countries, with the plane seeing relatively little use in Europe and only having one operator in the USA.
The aircraft was produced from 1965 to 1987, and was retired by most operators in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to rising fuel costs and ageing airframes, although Letrastani carriers continued to operate it well into the 2010s due to the continuing inadequacy of airport infrastructure and low domestic fuel prices: Air Letrastan, Garfield Overland and Great Northern Airways retired their last examples in 2015, 2015 and 2016, respectively, with AeroSteppe holding out until January 2018. Daallo Airlines of Somalia continues to occasionally operate a DA-9 in passenger service, while Rapid-Air Cargo Charters of Letrastan retains a small fleet of freighter conversions.
Civil Operators
Current (as of 2017):
•Daallo Airlines
•Rapid-Air Cargo Charters
Former:
•Air Letrastan
•Garfield Overland
•GOL Aero-Metro
•Great Northern Airways
•WestAvia
•AeroSteppe
•Garuda Indonesia
•CAAC
•China Eastern
•Merpati Nusantara
•Jatayu Airlines
•Trigana Air
•Bouraq Airlines
•Thai Airways
•Orient Thai
•Aerolineas Argentinas
•Boliviana
•AeroSur
•LADE
•ANA
•JAS
•JAL
•Philippine Airlines
•MIAT Mongolian Airways
•Danish Air Transport
•Pacific Southwestern Airlines
•Ansett-ANA
•South African Airways
