Ahuriri Aerospace R500 family
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| R507 prepared for final airliner paint application. | |
| Role | Narrow-body jet airliner |
| Manufacturer | Ahuriri Aerospace |
| First flight | 1966 |
| Introduction | 14 March 1968 with Onekawa Skylines |
| Status | In service |
| Primary users | Onekawa Airways Air Kermat Royal Redisan Airlines Motunui Air |
| Produced | 1967-present |
| Number built | X000 |
The R500 family are narrow-body jetliners produced by Ahuriri Aerospace. Originally developed in the mid-1960s, it first undertook commercial operation with its launch customer Onekawa Airways on the 14 March 1968. Designed to fly "short and thin" routes between smaller airports, it was the first commercial aircraft produced by Ahuriri Aerospace since the R410 in the early 1950s. Having remained in continuous production since 1967 it has proven to be a significant commercial success and has seen service across the globe. The R500 family has been developed into a number of variants and has evolved in four different generations of aircraft.
Design
Development
Coming off the successful development of the R700 airlifter for the Royal Onekawa-Nukanoa Air Force, Chairman Tama Henaki urged Chief Designer Hamonga Tereiti with the development of an civilian airliner. After the commercial failure of the R410 in the early 1950s Ahuriri Aerospace had pulled out of the commercial airliner market, but a rapidly changing situation in the airline industry with growth in peoples wages and falling prices of air travel was viewed as an prime business opportunity to re-enter the commercial aerospace industry.
It was decided early on that the first foray back into civilian aviation would be focused on a "minimum risk, clean sheet" approach. Targeting the smaller end of the civilian market would help to minimize risk, and requests by Onekawa Airways alongside consultations with airline experts indicated that the market did not yet have an aircraft in the 120-150 passenger capacity and 3,500-6,000km range that had the performance and profitability capability to take full advantage of that segment of the market, dominated mostly by travellers wishing to travel between smaller cities.
Whilst the overall parameters for what became known as the R500 were intentionally unambitious, the design itself would utilize the latest in aircraft manufacturing technologies and techniques at the time. This included the expansion of the primary manufacturing facility in Ahuriri, new tooling and the employment of some of the earliest computers to model aspects of the aircraft before construction took place.