Saskatchewan Canada purchases four Dash 8-400 airtankers

Saskatchewan Canada has purchased four Dash 8-400 airtankers for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA), consisting of two Q400At and two Q400MRE models, to carry our firefighting activities. The approximate cost of the order was $187 million. ""Saskatchewan leads the country in preparing for future disasters with their order for four modern emergency response aircraft,"" Conair aerial firefighting president and CEO Matt Bradley said. Corrections, policing and public safety minister Paul Merriman added that as “Saskatchewan relies on land-based aircraft as part of its approach to managing wildfires,” the aircraft are “used in instances where waterbombers may not be able to access lakes to fill up their tanks”. The new aircraft will replace SPSA’s ageing fleet of four land-based Convair 580s, which will approach the end of their useful lives in 2027. The first of the new Dash 8-400s is expected to arrive in late summer 2025, with the remainder delivered by the end of 2027.