Saab

As of October 2026 – A slim turboprop with low wings landing at a Scottish island airport or in the Australian outback, and a small delta-wing fighter thrilling the crowd at an airshow with tight turns: both carry the same name. Saab of Sweden is a manufacturer with two worlds for spotters. On the civil side stand the Saab 340 and the Saab 2000, two regional aircraft that have not been built since 1999 and are therefore becoming ever rarer. On the military side stand the Gripen and the GlobalEye airborne early warning aircraft, with which Saab makes its money today.

From Trollhättan to Linköping

Saab is established on April 2, 1937 as Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget – hence the abbreviation SAAB. The background is political: in an unsettled time Sweden wants to equip its air force with aircraft of its own design instead of depending on foreign suppliers. Founded in Trollhättan, the focus shifts quickly after the takeover of the Linköping aircraft builder ASJA to what is still the most important site today, Linköping in Östergötland. Design, final assembly and flight testing take place there, and that is also where Malmen military airfield with the Swedish Air Force Museum is located.

After the Second World War Saab looks for additional pillars. The Saab 91 Safir trainer is created and sells worldwide, and from the late 1940s there are even cars. In 1965 the company officially becomes Saab AB, and in 1969 it merges with the truck maker Scania-Vabis to form Saab-Scania. In 1990 the car division is spun off as Saab Automobile and passes step by step to General Motors, and in 1995 Saab and Scania separate again as well. Since then Saab has concentrated entirely on aviation, defense and security technology.

Today the group headquarters is in Stockholm, and Saab is led by Micael Johansson. The largest shareholder is the Wallenberg sphere via the holding company Investor AB. In 2025 Saab had revenue of around 79 billion Swedish kronor and employed about 26,100 people. The orders come overwhelmingly from the defense sector – radar, missiles, submarines and of course aircraft.

The military jets: from Tunnan to Viggen

Before we get to the turboprops, it is worth a look at the jets that made Saab famous. Today they are mainly museum pieces, but every spotter with a soft spot for military aviation knows them:

• Saab 29 Tunnan (first flight 1948): one of the first European fighters with swept wings, named after its thick, barrel-shaped fuselage.
• Saab 32 Lansen (first flight 1952): a two-seat ground-attack and all-weather fighter.
• Saab 35 Draken (first flight October 25, 1955): the double-delta fighter with its unmistakable wing made of two deltas with different sweep. Saab built 651 examples. Besides Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Austria flew it; the Austrian Drakens stayed in service until 2005.
• Saab 37 Viggen (first flight February 8, 1967): one of the first combat aircraft built in large series with canards, meaning small foreplanes ahead of the main wing. Its engine had afterburner and thrust reversal, so it could operate from short stretches of road. 329 Viggens were built, and frontline service ended in 2005.

These types tell the story of the Swedish Cold War doctrine: combat jets that land on dispersed road bases, are refueled quickly and take off again. Exactly this requirement still shapes the Gripen today. You can see the Draken and Viggen in many museums, most comprehensively in the Swedish Air Force Museum (Flygvapenmuseum) in Linköping.

The Saab 340: Sweden’s regional bestseller

In the early 1980s Saab ventures into civil aviation. Regional traffic is growing, and airlines are looking for modern turboprops for 30 to 40 passengers. For this Saab teams up with the US manufacturer Fairchild: the Swedes build the fuselage and vertical stabilizer and take over final assembly in Linköping, while Fairchild supplies the wings, horizontal stabilizer and engine nacelles. That is why the aircraft was initially called the Saab-Fairchild 340 – and where the ICAO type code SF34 comes from, which you still see in every flight tracker today.

The Saab 340 flies for the first time on January 25, 1983. The launch customer is the Swiss Crossair, which takes over its first aircraft in June 1984. Fairchild leaves in 1985 after the first 40 examples, and Saab then builds the 340 alone. By the end of production in 1999, 459 aircraft are built – a considerable success for a manufacturer that had mainly built combat jets until then.

Depending on seating, the 340 has room for about 30 to 36 passengers. In many places of the aluminum structure Saab used bonded joints instead of rivets to save weight. At the end of 2016 the permitted airframe life was raised significantly, so many aircraft are allowed to keep flying for a long time.

Where the Saab 340 flies today

According to 2023 figures, around 250 Saab 340s were still in service. The largest operator for years has been Rex Regional Express in Australia, which connects many small inland towns with the type. Saab 340s also fly with smaller passenger airlines in North America and Europe and with cargo companies that use converted 340AFs and 340BFs. In Great Britain the type long shaped the island routes of Loganair.

In Central Europe, on the other hand, the Saab 340 has become rare in scheduled service. Most sightings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are cargo flights, charters or ferry flights. That is exactly what makes every SF34 in your logbook valuable. You’ll find strategies for such rarities in the article Spotting rare aircraft, and an overview of the continent’s regional airlines in Regional airlines in Europe.

The Saab 2000: fast, but late

With the success of the 340 behind it, Saab develops a larger and faster derivative. The Saab 2000 flies for the first time on March 26, 1992 and receives its certification from the European and American authorities in 1994. It offers 50 to 58 seats and, with a top speed of around 685 km/h, is among the fastest turboprop airliners of all. It is powered by two Rolls-Royce AE 2100 engines with six-blade propellers from Dowty.

Here too Crossair is the launch customer – and with 34 aircraft by far the most important operator. In Switzerland the fast turboprop gets the nickname “Concordino”. Commercially, however, the Saab 2000 comes too late: regional jets such as the Embraer ERJ family and the Bombardier CRJ promise jet comfort on the same routes. It stays at 63 aircraft built, the last going to Crossair in April 1999.

After that the Saab 2000s move on to smaller operators. In Europe they flew with Darwin Airline in Lugano and Eastern Airways in Great Britain, among others. In October 2024 only around 31 Saab 2000s were still active according to available figures, some of them with air forces. Besides the Pakistani and Saudi air forces with Erieye early warning versions, only a few civil operators, such as charter and regional companies, still use the type.

Saab 340 or Saab 2000? Four steps to the right turboprop

Regional aircraft often taxi at remote positions and take off between two airliners. This sequence reliably leads you to the right type.

The most common mix-up, by the way, is not 340 versus 2000, but Saab versus ATR. Anyone who only briefly sees a twin-engine turboprop on approach is likely to guess an ATR 42. A look at the wings settles it: on the ATR the fuselage hangs beneath the wings, on the Saab it sits on top. The article Telling turboprops apart compares the common types in detail; the page on ATR leads to the direct counterpart from France.

Why Saab left the civil business

At the end of the 1990s Saab pulled the plug. Regional jets conquered the market, demand for large turboprops collapsed, and the unit numbers of the Saab 2000 stayed far below expectations. Saab decided to end production of both types and concentrate entirely on the military business. In 1999 the last aircraft left the factory halls in Linköping.

The aircraft were not left to themselves, though. Saab continues to support the fleets with spare parts and technical support, and its own leasing arm placed used 340s and 2000s with new operators. For spotters that means: the aircraft often change owners, turn up in new liveries and, after their airline days, not infrequently end up in cargo service or with air forces.

The Gripen: Saab’s flagship today

The JAS 39 Gripen is the aircraft with which Saab presents itself internationally today. The abbreviation JAS stands for fighter, attack and reconnaissance (Swedish Jakt, Attack, Spaning) – one aircraft for all three tasks. The prototype flies on December 9, 1988, and the Gripen enters operational service in the mid-1990s.

In the field you recognize it by three features: a delta wing, small canards ahead of the wing and only one engine. That makes it smaller and slimmer than the twin-engine Eurofighter or the Rafale from Dassault Aviation, both of which also combine delta and canards. How to cleanly tell the European fighter jets apart is shown in the article Identifying fighter jets in Europe.

Besides Sweden, Gripens fly or flew in Hungary, the Czech Republic, South Africa, Thailand and Brazil; the British test pilot school ETPS has used a two-seater for training since 1999. Brazil is the most important export partner for the Gripen E: together with Embraer, Saab opened a production line in Brazil in 2023. In 2025 Colombia and Thailand signed contracts for Gripen E/F, and in the fall of 2025 Sweden concluded a letter of intent with Ukraine for a larger Gripen procurement.

GlobalEye and Erieye: Saab’s flying radars

A Saab specialty is airborne early warning aircraft. The heart is the Erieye radar, a long, flat antenna that sits on the fuselage like a bar – quite different from the round rotodome of a Boeing E-3 Sentry. Saab first mounted Erieye on the Saab 340 and Saab 2000. The Swedish Air Force flew the Saab 340 with Erieye, while Pakistan and Saudi Arabia use the Saab 2000 in this role.

The current generation is called GlobalEye. The basis is a long-range business jet from Bombardier, the Global 6000 or 6500. Saab converts the finished jets in Linköping and puts the larger Erieye ER radar, weighing about one ton, on the back. Further features are an optical sensor under the nose, an extended vertical stabilizer and additional fins under the tail. The first flight was on March 14, 2018.

The United Arab Emirates had received five GlobalEyes by September 2024. Sweden has ordered three aircraft, designated there as the S 106; Saab unveiled the first Swedish GlobalEye in October 2026. France ordered two aircraft in December 2025 with an option for two more, and in 2026 further prospective customers and letters of intent were added. How to recognize early warning and reconnaissance aircraft in general is covered in the article Identifying AWACS and reconnaissance aircraft.

Other Saab projects you will encounter

Saab is also involved in aircraft that do not carry its own name. On the T-7A Red Hawk trainer for the US Air Force, Saab is a development partner of Boeing and supplies fuselage sections. In addition there are supplies of structural components for airliners of other manufacturers. In everyday life at the airport you see none of this – but it shows how closely Saab is integrated into the international aviation industry.

Manufacturer identified, operator not

Especially with used Saab turboprops, operators and liveries change frequently. The registration can point to a completely different country than the current place of operation. How to tell the origin of a registration is shown in the article Country prefixes on aircraft. Swedish registrations begin with SE-.

Where to see Saab aircraft

In Sweden is where the focus naturally lies. In Linköping, at Malmen airfield, you’ll find the Flygvapenmuseum (Swedish Air Force Museum) with one of the most complete Saab collections anywhere – from early propeller aircraft through Tunnan, Lansen, Draken and Viggen to the Gripen. Tips for the visit are on the spot page Flygvapenmuseum at Linköping airfield. For civil traffic, Stockholm Arlanda Airport with its official spotting locations is the first address in Sweden.

At airshows the chances of a Gripen are good. The Swedish Air Force and other users show it regularly at large events, such as the Royal International Air Tattoo in Fairford. Airshows in Europe gives an overview of worthwhile dates.

For the turboprops you have to search deliberately. Australia with Rex is the Saab 340 paradise; in Europe flight tracking and sighting alerts help when an SF34 or SB20 on a cargo or charter flight comes near you.

Conclusion

Saab is a manufacturer that has reinvented itself twice. From the Swedish military aircraft builder of the 1930s it became a serious supplier of regional aircraft in the 1980s – the Saab 340 is still one of the best-known turboprops of its class. After leaving the civil business in 1999, Saab again concentrates entirely on the Gripen, GlobalEye and defense technology.

For you as a spotter that means: the Saab turboprops are collector’s items with an expiration date, and the Gripen and GlobalEye are the airshow highlights of the present. If you keep an eye on low wings and propeller blades, you identify the civil types in seconds – and if you ever travel to Linköping, you see the whole Saab story in one place.