The Fairchild-Dornier 328JET is 32 seat commuter jet airliner. After Fairchild Aerospace had acquired the majority of Dornier in 1996, the new formed company Fairchild-Dornier started in 1997 with the development of the 328JET. The Fairchild-Dornier 328Jet was derived from the Dornier 328 turboprop featuring two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306B turbofans instead of the turboprops. Next to the engines, only slight modifications to the landing gear and wings were required to convert the Dornier 328 into the 328JET model. The 328JET prototype D-BJET was converted from the second 328 turboprop airframe and was flown first on 20 January 1998. Deliveries of the 328JET started in 1999. The combined USA and German engineering team developed the new 428 model based on the 328JET, but the project was turned down in 2001 when Fairchild-Dornier ran into financial problems. In 2002 Fairchild Dornier filed bankruptcy and the court appointed administrator determined that the company had to be sold in pieces. The US company AvCraft Aviation acquired the Fairchild-Dornier’s 328 program, including the 328JET production line at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Next to 18 ready-to-deliver aircraft, and five in the final assembly stage, the purchase included also the 428 intellectual properties. AvCraft/Fairchild-Dornier restarted in 2004 the production of the Fairchild Dornier 328JET. Early 2005 AvCraft Aerospace GmbH, the German subsidiary of AvCraft Aviation responsible for the 328JET program was declared insolvent at a German court at Weilsheim. In December 2005, UK’s Corporate Jet Services Ltd purchased the former AvCraft Aerospace GmbH. On 2 January 2006, Corporate Jet Services Ltd created the German subsidiary 328 Support Services GmbH, headquartered at Oberpfaffenhofen. It holds the type certificate of the Dornier 328 Jet and Turboprop aircraft plus the Dornier 428, and is carrying on the worldwide support of the aircraft. Part of the company’s strategy is to work towards returning to service the Dornier 328 aircraft which are currently parked in Europa and US.

ItAli is the new name of the Pescara based regional operator Air Columbia. Their Fairchild-Dornier 328Jet-300 I-ACLG (ex. D-BDXO, D-BDAG) was delivered on 30 December 2004. This 328Jet was operated before by the defunct Gandalf Airlines. When seen at Groningen Airport Eelde in the Netherlands, the aircraft still wear the Gandalf colors.

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