Upon landing at Copenhagen Airport, the right main landing gear of an SAS Q400 operating as flight SK2867 from Bergen to Denmark Oct. 27 failed to fully extend, according to preliminary information. None of the 40 passengers and four crewmembers were injured, the airline said. Following an unscheduled meeting of SAS's board of directors, the airline decided to immediately discontinue the use of the aircraft.

"Confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably, and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft," said Mats Jansson, president and CEO of SAS, in the Oct. 28 statement. "Accordingly, with the board of directors' approval, I have decided to immediately remove Dash 8 Q400 aircraft from service."

The decision removes 27 of SAS Group's fleet of 303 aircraft from service - approximately five percent of the airline's total seat capacity. Work already has been initiated to replace the aircraft type long term, under a plan which involves reallocation of aircraft capacity within the group for now, a review of external wet lease capacity over the course of the next month and a review of external dry lease capacity during the coming three to six months.

According to SAS, an early estimate of the negative impact on SAS Group falls around 300 to 400 million SEK, or $46.9 to $62.6 million.

Bombardier responded to the incident in an Oct. 28 statement that said it is "disappointed with the SAS decision to permanently discontinue flight operations with the Bombardier Q400 given that the landing incident is still under investigation by Danish authorities." It added that its assessment of the situation, in consultation with Transport Canada, "did not identify a systemic landing gear issue."

Bombardier advised all Q400 aircraft operators to continue with normal flight operations, adding that it and landing gear manufacturer Goodrich had conducted a full review of the Q400 landing gear system and confirmed its safety.

"Bombardier stands behind the Q400 aircraft," the statement said, adding that over 150 of the type are in service among 22 international operators and that the global fleet has logged over one million flying hours and 1.2 million take-off and landing cycles.

A Goodrich representative added that, "We are supporting Bombardier and the Danish authorities in investigating the incident. We are sending a team to Copenhagen." She declined further comment.

SAS's decision follows two other incidents of landing gear failure on Q400s operated by the airline. Within a span of four days, two SAS Q400s experienced failure of the landing gear to fully extend: one operating from Copenhagen to Aalborg, Denmark, on Sept. 9, and another en route to Palanga, Lithuania from Copenhagen, which required diversion to Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sept. 12.