TYPE: Regional jet airliner.

PROGRAMME: Baseline 728 initially designated X28JET, then 728JET; JET suffix discontinued in late 2001. Design study, to Lufthansa requirements, announced at the Dubai Air Show in October 1997; launched at ILA Berlin Aerospace Show 19 May 1998 in five-abreast configuration; General Electric GF34 engine selection announced 3 August 1998; baseline configuration frozen December 1999; first metal cut by SABCA (Belgium) on 18 December 2000; design freeze December 2000; assembly of first three fuselages began in February 2001; final assembly began October 2001; prototype 728-100 (TAC 1/D-AEVA) rolled out 21 March 2002; five aircraft (four test aircraft, TACs, and the first production machine) to fly 1,800-hour test programme, mostly at Granada, Spain, but also in Germany and USA, complementing 'iron bird' engineering rig, which commissioned in November 2000 and completed 210.000 cycles in the initial fatigue test phase by June 2001; initial 10-flight test programme for fly-by-wire FCS completed in first quarter of 2001 using Veridian Flight Research Group's Learjet 25 configured to reproduce stability and control characteristics of 728. Company's financial problems forced suspension of test programme, and 728 remained unflown in February 2003.
Service entry of 728-100 with launch customer Lufthansa originally planned for July 2003. Fairchild Dornier stopped marketing the 728-100 in March 2002 and intended from 2004 to concentrate manufacturing on the 728-200. Initial production target (all versions) 100 per year, with potential to increase to 120 per year by 2005.
Following transfer of the programme to D'Long, work recommenced in late 2003 on both the prototype and second aircraft (D-ADLH).

CURRENT VERSIONS: 728-100: Formerly 728JET. As described.
728-200: Announced 28 January 2002; formerly 728JET-XP; increased range and weight. Strengthened outboard wing (as 928) and horizontal tail surfaces; reinforced landing gear and fuselage. Range 1.800 n miles (3,333 km; 2,071 miles).
728 Special Mission Aircraft (SMA): Proposed airborne early warning variant featuring dorsal radar dish housing Northrop Grumman radar. Target capability includes 100 n mile (185 km; 115 mile) transit to and from search area and on-station endurance of more than eight hours at 10,670 m (35,000 ft).
528: Also known as 'X28'. Projected shortened version with accommodation for 55 to 63 passengers in single or mixed class layouts; derated CF34-8D3 engines. Service entry in 2007.
928-100: Growth version with accommodation for 110 passengers in single- or 95 in mixed-class layouts; fuselage stretch by means of two plugs (more correctly, extensions of existing assemblies) fore and aft of centre-section; new centre wing box increasing wing span and area. No overwing emergency exits.
GE CF34-10D5 engines; strengthened main landing gear; uprated environmental control system. Initial 100-hour high-speed wind tunnel testing phase using 1/12 scale half-model comleted in April 2001; first flight scheduled for November 2003, followed by three-aircraft, 27-month flight test programme leading to service entry in second quarter of 2005. Total orders stood at six in June 2001, comprising four firm and two options for launch customer Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing GmbH.
928-200: Extended-range version; GE CF34-10D6 engines.
928 SMA: Proposed special missions aircraft; optional cargo door facilitates loading of up to seven 463 lb military pallets and/or containerised cargo.
Envoy 7: Corporate version of 728, with increased range, CF34-8D6 engines (each rated at 58.1 kN; 13,055 lb st); additional underfloor fuel tanks raising max fuel weight to 15,200 kg (33,510 lb), and hybrid 'super shark' winglets; launched at NBAA Convention in Las Vegas, October 1998; launch customer Flight Options Inc announced order for 25 for its fractional ownership programme at the Paris Air Show on 14 June 1999; full-scale cabin mockup exhibited at NBAA Convention at Atlanta, Georgia, in October 1999. First flight scheduled for July 2003, followed by three-aircraft, 19-month flight test and certification programme. Lufthansa Technik AG of Hamburg, Germany, appointed European completion centre on 10 October 2000. Garret Aviation Services is US completion centre; total orders stood at 29 by June 2001.

CUSTOMERS: Total of 118 orders and 162 options for 728 and four orders and two options for 928 by February 2002; launch (728) customer Lufthansa CityLine ordered 60, with 60 options, in April 1999, for delivery between 2003 and 2006. Other announced customers include CSA Czech Airliners, which announced orders for eight (four on lease from GECAS) at the Paris Air Show in June 2001, for delivery at the rate of three each in 2003 and 2004 and one each in 2005 and 2006. GE Capital Aviation Services Inc (GECAS), which ordered 50, with up to 100 options, in June 2000, for delivery from 2003, but cancelled the order in April 2002; Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing GmbH, which ordered two, with two options, in June 2000; and Sol Air of Italy, which has ordered two.

COSTS: Programme US$1.1 billion for all versions. Unit cost: 528 US$26.50 million; 728-100 US$29.50 million; 728-200 US$31 million; 928-100 US$35 million; 928-200 US$36.5 million (all 2002).

DESIGN FEATURES: Design objectives included seamless transition of passengers to large aircraft of large airlines; superior seat-mile economics; good payload/range performance; flight deck design for reduced pilot workload; and high dispatch reliability. Conventional twin-jet airliner with low-mounted wings carrying podded engines; sweptback fin and mid-mounted tailplane.

FLYING CONTROLS: Digital fly-by-wire. Ailerons, rudder and elevator; incidence-trimmable tailplane. Four-section slats on each wing leading-edge outboard of engines; Krüger flap inboard. Three-section spoilers on outboard section of each wing upper surface (Nos. 2, 3 and 4); single spoiler (No. 1) inboard. Two-section flaps on each wing.

STRUCTURE: Airframe participants include: Honeywell (avionics, environmental control system and APU); Goodrich (wheels, tyres, brakes, nosewheel steering system and fuel system); SABCA (flight deck section and rear fuselage); CASA/EADS (wing box and tail surfaces); General Electric (power plant); Hurel-Dubois (engine nacelles); Parker Aerospace (hydraulic system and primary FCS); Remis Aviation (728 lower cockpit, under subcontract from SABCA); and Hamilton Sundstrand (electrical system secondary FCS and ram air turbine). Airframe design life: 728-100: 80,000 cycles; 728-200, 928-100 and 928-200: 65,000 cycles; Envoy 7: 25,000 cycles.

LANDING GEAR: Retractable tricycle type with twin wheels on each unit.

POWER PLANT: 728: Two General Electric CF34-8D1 turbofans, each rated at 60.37 kN (13,572 lb st) with APR, pod-mounted below wings. Standard fuel capacity 12,000 litres (3,170 US gallons; 2,640 Imp gallons).
928: Two CF34-10D5s, each 82.3 kN (18,500 lb st) with APR. ER version has 85.2 kN (19,150 lb st) -10D6s.

ACCOMMODATION: Flight deck crew of two with two flight attendants and 70 to 80 passengers; in typical single-class configuration, cabin accommodates 75 passengers, five-abreast, at 84 cm (33 in) seat pitch, or in high-density layout, 85 passengers, five-abreast at 76 cm (30 in) seat pitch with single 48 cm (19 in) aisle; alternative two-class configurations accommodate 60 passengers in five-abreast seating at 84 cm (33 in) seat pitch and eight or ten in four-abreast seating at 96 cm (38 in) pitch at forward end of cabin; galley, lavatory and wardrobe forward, galley and lavatory aft. Baggage bins offer 0,06 m³ (2.13 cu ft) and 12.7 kg (28 lb) per passenger. Front crew/passenger airstair Type C door and aft Type C emergency exit on port side; forward Type C emergency exit and aft Type C service door/emergency exit and aft baggage door on starboard side. Two underfloor baggage compartments with doors, port side, forward and aft of wing; upper baggage compartment at rear of cabin. Cabin pressurised, maximum differential 0.57 bar (8.3 lb/sq in), maintaining sea level pressure to 6,431 m (21,000 ft).

SYSTEMS: Honeywell RE220FD APU.

AVIONICS: Honeywell Epic avionics suite.
Comms: Dual Primus II integrated radio system with VHF com and Mode S transponder standard.
Radar: Primus 660 weather radar.
Flight: VOR, DME, ADF, ILS standard, with integrated sensor suite containing inertial measurement unit, dual air data modules, AFCS and GPS sensor modules; TCAS 2000; EGPWS; windshear detection system.
Instrumentation: Six-tube EFIS with LCD PFDs, MFDs and EICAS.