Regional airliner
Encyclopedia
A regional airliner or a feederliner is a small airliner
designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' hubs from small markets. This class of airliners are typically flown by the regional airlines that are either contracted by or subsidiaries of the larger airlines. Feederliner, commuter, and local service are all alternate terms for the same class of flight operations.
In the early days of aviation, most aircraft had a relatively short range so that all airlines were "regional" in nature. With the introduction of longer range aircraft, notably flying boat
s, these shorter range planes increasingly found their niche feeding the newer and longer range airliners by flying passengers to the mainline's
airline hub
s. Many of these smaller regional airline
s were eventually bought by the larger flag carrier
s.
To keep these short routes economical, the airlines were generally unwilling to spend large amounts of money on new aircraft; at times they used second hand aircraft. Also, as new models slowly emerged, older aircraft were put into this service when they were replaced by progressively longer-range designs. In the immediate post-war era these were typically Douglas DC-3
s, although even the De Havilland Dragon Rapide
remained in service for some time. This "hand-me-down" process of supplying aircraft continued with designs like the Convair 440, Douglas DC-6
and Vickers Viscount
also serving in this role while the first jets were introduced.
s, which had fuel economy on par with piston engine designs, but had far lower maintenance costs. Often the time between engine overhaul periods was five times that of the best piston engines. Early examples of these designs include the Avro 748
, Fokker F27
and Handley Page Dart Herald
.
These designs were so successful that it was many years before newer designs bettered them enough to make it worthwhile to develop. There were a few exceptions, generally tailored to more specific roles. For instance, the Handley Page Jetstream (first flight in 1968) was intended for fewer passengers at much higher speeds, displacing smaller designs like the Beechcraft Queen Air. The Fairchild/Swearingen Metro (developed from the original Queen Air through a number of stages) filled a similar niche.
By the 1970s the first generation regional airliners were starting to wear out, but there had been little effort in producing new designs for this market. A varied list of light transport aircraft supplanted by newer and more modern 30 seat designs by Shorts with their Shorts 330
and 360
as well as other aircraft manufacturers, replaced and sometimes provided growth to established commuter markets. Additional development came to the regional airline industry with the arrival of some of the earlier De Havilland Canada
types such as the Dash 7 delivered in 1978, but this was tailored more to the short-range and STOL
(Short Take-Off and Landing) role than as a regional airliner. Feedback from the airlines was fairly consistent, however, and De Havilland responded with the Dash 8 in 1984, which had economic benefits over the earlier generation machines, and was faster and quieter as well. Dash 8 sales were so strong that the company was unable to fund rebuilding the factory in order to meet demand, leading to a takeover by Bombardier
.
In the early 1990s, the Dash 8's success sparked off development of a number of similar designs, including the ATR 42/72, Saab 340
, Embraer Brasilia and Fokker F50
. Consequently there were a relatively large number of aircraft offered by manufacturers in this sector of the market, pushing older 1950s designs from Fokker
, Vickers
and others into retirement. Due to the high level of competition, production of a number of these types ceased. Saab
exited the civil aviation market and wrote its debts off, Daimler-Benz Aerospace "pulled the plug" on Dornier
, and British Aerospace
ended production of their BAe Jetstream 41 after 100 delivered. In 2006 only the ATR 42/72 models and the Dash 8 remain in production.
Another reason for the downturn in the turboprop market was the introduction of the first regional jets. Although a number of small jets entered service in the 1950s and 60s, notably the Sud Aviation Caravelle
, Fokker F28
and Yak-40, these could not compete in terms of cost of operation with the turboprop designs, and were suitable for routes with small numbers of passengers, as opposed to short routes where fuel economy was paramount. As engine technology improved, this difference continued to narrow, until the higher utilization factors due to higher cruising speeds erased any remaining advantage from lower operating costs.
The earliest example of a true short-range jet is the BAe 146
, produced by BAE Systems
. However, like the Dash 7 before it, the BAe 146 was tuned to a very specific market, city-center to city-center service where low noise and excellent takeoff performance were paramount. Like the Dash 7, the market niche for this design proved to be fairly small, and its four engines meant it had higher maintenance costs than twin-engine designs. Unlike the Dash 7 example BAe did not respond by producing a twin-engine design that filled the same range requirements but offering lower operational costs.
This was addressed by Bombardier's twin-engine Canadair Regional Jet, which became a best-seller. The CRJ's range is enough to fill mid-range routes as well, routes previously served by larger aircraft such as the Boeing 737
and DC-9. These aircraft were originally intended to be used for direct airport-to-airport flights, bypassing hubs, and led to industry-wide discussions about the decline of the hub-and-spoke model
. Although not as economical as the turboprop, by flying directly to and from smaller airports, they reduced the need for low-cost regional airliners. And although turboprops are quiet to outside observers, propwash makes them very noisy inside. Passengers greatly preferred jets, both for real and perception reasons.
As had happened with the turboprops of only a few years earlier, the success of the CRJ led to the introduction of a host of competitors. The only successful example is the Embraer ERJ 145, which has seen excellent sales and has competed strongly with the CRJ in most markets. Bombardier and Embraer have been locked in a series of counter-lawsuits over export taxes and subsidies ever since. The ERJ's success led to a totally new version, the Embraer E-Jets
series, which Bombardier chose not to compete against until recently, with the announced Bombardier CSeries
.
Other competitors have not been successful. Fairchild Dornier introduced the Fairchild Dornier 328JET
to compete, but went bankrupt soon afterwards and the type did not enter large scale production. Their bankruptcy also ended development of the more competitive Fairchild-Dornier 728, which had attracted strong airline interest. The CRJ/ERJ also resulted in the end of the BAe 146 line.
The CRJ and ERJ success also played a minor part in the failure of Fokker
, whose Fokker 100 found itself squeezed on both sides by new models of the Boeing 737
and Airbus A319 on the "large" side and the RJs on the "small side". Bombardier turned down the chance to purchase Fokker's assets, feeling that the 100-seat market was already saturated by designs like the A319.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100
, a 60 to 95-seat jet developed by the Russian aerospace firm Sukhoi
with assistance of Ilyushin
and Boeing
, is undergoing the certification process in 2010 so no commercial orders have been fulfilled yet. The Antonov An-148
entered service in 2009 but it remains to be seen if it will have any success in a market that has been fairly hesitant to adopt aircraft from the former Soviet Union
.
In 2005, the "regional jet" boom suddenly collapsed, as increasing fuel prices and airline bankruptcies led to a rethinking of route structures. The high per-seat operational costs of the classic 50-seat regional jet have been exacerbated by an environment of ever-lowering fares. Furthermore, RJs increasingly were assigned to operate flights of two hours or more. This led to angry passengers, as their comfort and ergonomics compare unfavorably to the larger "mainline" jets which they replaced on these flights.
Further, the replacement of the hub-and-spoke model simply never took place. The economics and routing advantages of this mode of operation were simply too great. As the hub-and-spoke model has always been supported by low-cost regional airliners, turboprop designs once again became a major market. Improving their attractiveness in relation to the jets was the introduction of active noise-reduction systems, which reduced cabin noise to levels comparable, or even lower, than the RJ's. Bombardier found their Dash 8 to be in high demand once again, and shifted production to their latest model, the Bombardier Q400.
In late 2005, Bombardier suspended its CRJ-200 production line. The new trend is for larger aircraft with better economics, exemplified by Bombardier's 70-seat CRJ-700 and the 70-110-seat E-Jet series. The E-Jets in particular blur the line between "mainline" and "regional," as their cabin comfort is comparable or superior to traditional narrowbody jets like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320
while offering ranges of over 2,000 miles, greater than some early mainline jet airlines such as the DC-9
and BAC-111
.
Regional airliners are also being blamed for flight delays in the US. According to the Wall Street Journal, 30% of flights in June 2007 were late by an average of 62 minutes. The delays are being blamed on an increased number of smaller aircraft, which the airlines are using in order to fill out schedules and provide more flights per day. This has led to the grounding of 385 larger aircraft and the adding of 1,029 regionals over the period from 2000 to 2006. The downside to this approach is that airports are running out of gates, causing delays as aircraft queue up for this limited resource.
, and Brownsville, Texas
.
The notion that regional jet aircraft are less expensive (per seat mile) than traditional jets is a common misconception. On a seat-mile basis the RJ's cost is in fact higher. Regional jets are operated in the USA under a fee-per-departure payment structure. In this payment structure, a traditional airline contracts with a regional airline company on a per departure or per flight basis regardless of the number of passengers or the length of the flight. The traditional airline gets to keep all the revenue from the ticket sale and only pays the regional partner the agreed to amount. These contracts tend to be long term agreements, typically 10 year terms. The regional airline partner can then be relatively sure of the revenue side and only has to control cost in order to earn a modest return. However, these "regional airlines," now really "small jet providers" of contracted aircraft, have been squeezed by U.S. airline bankruptcies, fleet reductions and increasing operating costs. U.S. Legacy carriers have no longer been willing to shoulder burdensome losses from guaranteed-profit contracts with their small jet providers, and accordingly have played carrier against carrier in a low-bid game that has left hundreds of RJs idle and others potentially on their way to being laid up.
The idea that regional jets would provide point-to-point service and bypass the hub-and-spoke system may not be materializing as it was expected. As of January 2003, 90% of all regional jet flights in the United States had a hub or major airport at one end of that flight, and this number has been gradually increasing since 1995.
Airliner
An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...
designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' hubs from small markets. This class of airliners are typically flown by the regional airlines that are either contracted by or subsidiaries of the larger airlines. Feederliner, commuter, and local service are all alternate terms for the same class of flight operations.
History
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
s, these shorter range planes increasingly found their niche feeding the newer and longer range airliners by flying passengers to the mainline's
Mainline (flight)
A mainline flight is a flight operated by an airline's main operating unit, rather than by regional alliances, regional code-shares or regional subsidiaries...
airline hub
Airline hub
An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...
s. Many of these smaller regional airline
Regional airline
Regional airlines are airlines that operate regional aircraft to provide passenger air service to communities without sufficient demand to attract mainline service...
s were eventually bought by the larger flag carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...
s.
To keep these short routes economical, the airlines were generally unwilling to spend large amounts of money on new aircraft; at times they used second hand aircraft. Also, as new models slowly emerged, older aircraft were put into this service when they were replaced by progressively longer-range designs. In the immediate post-war era these were typically Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
s, although even the De Havilland Dragon Rapide
De Havilland Dragon Rapide
The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide was a British short-haul passenger airliner of the 1930s.-Design and development:Designed by the de Havilland company in late 1933 as a faster and more comfortable successor to the DH.84 Dragon, it was in effect a twin-engined, scaled-down version of the...
remained in service for some time. This "hand-me-down" process of supplying aircraft continued with designs like the Convair 440, Douglas DC-6
Douglas DC-6
The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...
and Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
also serving in this role while the first jets were introduced.
Turboprop designs
By the mid-1950s, demand for even more economical designs led to the production of the first custom feederliners. These were almost always turbopropTurboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
s, which had fuel economy on par with piston engine designs, but had far lower maintenance costs. Often the time between engine overhaul periods was five times that of the best piston engines. Early examples of these designs include the Avro 748
Avro 748
The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed by the British firm Avro in the late 1950s as a replacement for the now-aged DC-3s then in widespread service as feederliners. Avro concentrated on performance, notably for STOL operations, and found a dedicated...
, Fokker F27
Fokker F27
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.-Design and development:Design of the Fokker F27 started in the 1950s as a replacement to the successful Douglas DC-3 airliner...
and Handley Page Dart Herald
Handley Page Dart Herald
The Handley Page Dart Herald was a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft.-Design and development:In the mid 1950s the Handley Page Aircraft Company developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the venerable Douglas DC-3, particularly in third-world countries...
.
These designs were so successful that it was many years before newer designs bettered them enough to make it worthwhile to develop. There were a few exceptions, generally tailored to more specific roles. For instance, the Handley Page Jetstream (first flight in 1968) was intended for fewer passengers at much higher speeds, displacing smaller designs like the Beechcraft Queen Air. The Fairchild/Swearingen Metro (developed from the original Queen Air through a number of stages) filled a similar niche.
Shorts 330
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Barnes C.H. and James Derek N. Shorts Aircraft since 1900. London: Putnam, 1989. ISBN 0-85177-819-4.* Donald, David, ed. The Encyclopedia of Civil Aircraft. London: Aurum, 1999. ISBN 1-85410-642-2....
and 360
Shorts 360
The Short 360 is a commuter aircraft built by Short Brothers. The Short 360 seats up to 36-39 passengers and was introduced into service in 1981. It is a larger version of the Short 330.-Development:...
as well as other aircraft manufacturers, replaced and sometimes provided growth to established commuter markets. Additional development came to the regional airline industry with the arrival of some of the earlier De Havilland Canada
De Havilland Canada
The de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. company was an aircraft manufacturer with facilities based in what is now the Downsview area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
types such as the Dash 7 delivered in 1978, but this was tailored more to the short-range and STOL
STOL
STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of...
(Short Take-Off and Landing) role than as a regional airliner. Feedback from the airlines was fairly consistent, however, and De Havilland responded with the Dash 8 in 1984, which had economic benefits over the earlier generation machines, and was faster and quieter as well. Dash 8 sales were so strong that the company was unable to fund rebuilding the factory in order to meet demand, leading to a takeover by Bombardier
Bombardier Aerospace
Bombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc. and is the third-largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada.- History :...
.
In the early 1990s, the Dash 8's success sparked off development of a number of similar designs, including the ATR 42/72, Saab 340
Saab 340
The Saab 340 is a discontinued Swedish two-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by a partnership between Saab and Fairchild Aircraft in a 65:35 ratio...
, Embraer Brasilia and Fokker F50
Fokker F50
The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as a refinement of and successor to the highly successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were built by Fokker in the Netherlands...
. Consequently there were a relatively large number of aircraft offered by manufacturers in this sector of the market, pushing older 1950s designs from Fokker
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names, starting out in 1912 in Schwerin, Germany, moving to the Netherlands in 1919....
, Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
and others into retirement. Due to the high level of competition, production of a number of these types ceased. Saab
Saab
Saab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. From 1947 to 1990 it was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile, and between 1968 and 1995 the company was in a merger with commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania, known as Saab-Scania.-History:"Svenska...
exited the civil aviation market and wrote its debts off, Daimler-Benz Aerospace "pulled the plug" on Dornier
Dornier
Dornier may refer to:* Claudius Dornier , German aircraft designer and builder** Dornier Flugzeugwerke, German aircraft manufacturer founded in 1914 by Claudius Dornier* Dornier Consulting, international consulting and project management company...
, and British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
ended production of their BAe Jetstream 41 after 100 delivered. In 2006 only the ATR 42/72 models and the Dash 8 remain in production.
Regional jets
Sud Aviation Caravelle
The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle was the first short/medium-range jet airliner produced by the French Sud Aviation firm starting in 1955 . The Caravelle was one of the more successful European first generation jetliners, selling throughout Europe and even penetrating the United States market, with...
, Fokker F28
Fokker F28
The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a short range jet airliner designed and built by defunct Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.-Design and development:...
and Yak-40, these could not compete in terms of cost of operation with the turboprop designs, and were suitable for routes with small numbers of passengers, as opposed to short routes where fuel economy was paramount. As engine technology improved, this difference continued to narrow, until the higher utilization factors due to higher cruising speeds erased any remaining advantage from lower operating costs.
The earliest example of a true short-range jet is the BAe 146
BAe 146
The British Aerospace 146 is a medium-sized commercial airliner formerly manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2002. Manufacture of an improved version known as the Avro RJ began in 1992...
, produced by BAE Systems
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
. However, like the Dash 7 before it, the BAe 146 was tuned to a very specific market, city-center to city-center service where low noise and excellent takeoff performance were paramount. Like the Dash 7, the market niche for this design proved to be fairly small, and its four engines meant it had higher maintenance costs than twin-engine designs. Unlike the Dash 7 example BAe did not respond by producing a twin-engine design that filled the same range requirements but offering lower operational costs.
This was addressed by Bombardier's twin-engine Canadair Regional Jet, which became a best-seller. The CRJ's range is enough to fill mid-range routes as well, routes previously served by larger aircraft such as the Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
and DC-9. These aircraft were originally intended to be used for direct airport-to-airport flights, bypassing hubs, and led to industry-wide discussions about the decline of the hub-and-spoke model
Spoke-hub distribution paradigm
The hub-and-spoke distribution paradigm is a system of connections arranged like a chariot wheel, in which all traffic moves along spokes connected to the hub at the center...
. Although not as economical as the turboprop, by flying directly to and from smaller airports, they reduced the need for low-cost regional airliners. And although turboprops are quiet to outside observers, propwash makes them very noisy inside. Passengers greatly preferred jets, both for real and perception reasons.
As had happened with the turboprops of only a few years earlier, the success of the CRJ led to the introduction of a host of competitors. The only successful example is the Embraer ERJ 145, which has seen excellent sales and has competed strongly with the CRJ in most markets. Bombardier and Embraer have been locked in a series of counter-lawsuits over export taxes and subsidies ever since. The ERJ's success led to a totally new version, the Embraer E-Jets
Embraer E-Jets
The Embraer E-Jets are a series of narrow-body, twin-engine, medium-range, jet airliners produced by Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial, military, and corporate aircraft. Announced at the Paris Air Show in 1999, and entering production in 2002, the aircraft series...
series, which Bombardier chose not to compete against until recently, with the announced Bombardier CSeries
Bombardier CSeries
The Bombardier CSeries is a family of narrow-body, twin-engine, medium-range jet airliners being developed by Canadian manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace. Models are the 110-seat CS100, and the 130-seat CS300...
.
Other competitors have not been successful. Fairchild Dornier introduced the Fairchild Dornier 328JET
Fairchild Dornier 328JET
|-References:* Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent German-language Wikipedia article .-External links:*...
to compete, but went bankrupt soon afterwards and the type did not enter large scale production. Their bankruptcy also ended development of the more competitive Fairchild-Dornier 728, which had attracted strong airline interest. The CRJ/ERJ also resulted in the end of the BAe 146 line.
The CRJ and ERJ success also played a minor part in the failure of Fokker
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names, starting out in 1912 in Schwerin, Germany, moving to the Netherlands in 1919....
, whose Fokker 100 found itself squeezed on both sides by new models of the Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
and Airbus A319 on the "large" side and the RJs on the "small side". Bombardier turned down the chance to purchase Fokker's assets, feeling that the 100-seat market was already saturated by designs like the A319.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100
Sukhoi Superjet 100
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern, fly-by-wire regional jet in the 75- to 95-seat category. With development starting in 2000, the plane was designed by the civil aircraft division of the Russian aerospace company Sukhoi in co-operation with Western partners...
, a 60 to 95-seat jet developed by the Russian aerospace firm Sukhoi
Sukhoi
Sukhoi Company is a major Russian aircraft manufacturer, headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, famous for its fighters...
with assistance of Ilyushin
Ilyushin
Open Joint Stock Company «Ilyushin Aviation Complex» , operating as Ilyushin or Ilyushin Design Bureau, is a Russian design bureau and aircraft manufacturer, founded by Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin. Ilyushin was established under the Soviet Union. Its operations began on January 13, 1933, by...
and Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
, is undergoing the certification process in 2010 so no commercial orders have been fulfilled yet. The Antonov An-148
Antonov An-148
The Antonov An-148 Antonov Design Bureau from Kiev, Ukraine, is a regional jet aircraft designed by the Ukrainian Antonov Design Bureau and produced by Ukraine's Kiev Aviation Plant AVIANT and Russia's Voronezh Aircraft Production Association. Development of the plane was started in the 1990s,...
entered service in 2009 but it remains to be seen if it will have any success in a market that has been fairly hesitant to adopt aircraft from the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Recent changes
Further, the replacement of the hub-and-spoke model simply never took place. The economics and routing advantages of this mode of operation were simply too great. As the hub-and-spoke model has always been supported by low-cost regional airliners, turboprop designs once again became a major market. Improving their attractiveness in relation to the jets was the introduction of active noise-reduction systems, which reduced cabin noise to levels comparable, or even lower, than the RJ's. Bombardier found their Dash 8 to be in high demand once again, and shifted production to their latest model, the Bombardier Q400.
In late 2005, Bombardier suspended its CRJ-200 production line. The new trend is for larger aircraft with better economics, exemplified by Bombardier's 70-seat CRJ-700 and the 70-110-seat E-Jet series. The E-Jets in particular blur the line between "mainline" and "regional," as their cabin comfort is comparable or superior to traditional narrowbody jets like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
while offering ranges of over 2,000 miles, greater than some early mainline jet airlines such as the DC-9
McDonnell Douglas DC-9
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. It was first manufactured in 1965 with its maiden flight later that year. The DC-9 was designed for frequent, short flights. The final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.The DC-9 was followed in subsequent modified forms by...
and BAC-111
BAC One-Eleven
The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111, BAC-1-11 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s...
.
Regional airliners are also being blamed for flight delays in the US. According to the Wall Street Journal, 30% of flights in June 2007 were late by an average of 62 minutes. The delays are being blamed on an increased number of smaller aircraft, which the airlines are using in order to fill out schedules and provide more flights per day. This has led to the grounding of 385 larger aircraft and the adding of 1,029 regionals over the period from 2000 to 2006. The downside to this approach is that airports are running out of gates, causing delays as aircraft queue up for this limited resource.
Features
Seating on regional airliners tends to be narrow and tight, and passengers typically are restricted from bringing on board carry-on items which would fit without difficulty in the overhead bins of larger aircraft. Often carry-on luggage is collected immediately prior to boarding and placed in the cargo hold, where it can be quickly retrieved by the ground staff while the passengers exit. While designed primarily for medium stage lengths, RJs may now be found supplementing major trunk routes alongside traditional larger jet aircraft. RJs allow airlines to open new "long, thin" routings with jet equipment which heretofore did not exist, such as Atlanta to Monterrey, Nuevo León. RJs have also meant a return of jet service to cities where full-size jet service had departed over a decade ago, such as Macon, GeorgiaMacon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, and Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...
.
The notion that regional jet aircraft are less expensive (per seat mile) than traditional jets is a common misconception. On a seat-mile basis the RJ's cost is in fact higher. Regional jets are operated in the USA under a fee-per-departure payment structure. In this payment structure, a traditional airline contracts with a regional airline company on a per departure or per flight basis regardless of the number of passengers or the length of the flight. The traditional airline gets to keep all the revenue from the ticket sale and only pays the regional partner the agreed to amount. These contracts tend to be long term agreements, typically 10 year terms. The regional airline partner can then be relatively sure of the revenue side and only has to control cost in order to earn a modest return. However, these "regional airlines," now really "small jet providers" of contracted aircraft, have been squeezed by U.S. airline bankruptcies, fleet reductions and increasing operating costs. U.S. Legacy carriers have no longer been willing to shoulder burdensome losses from guaranteed-profit contracts with their small jet providers, and accordingly have played carrier against carrier in a low-bid game that has left hundreds of RJs idle and others potentially on their way to being laid up.
The idea that regional jets would provide point-to-point service and bypass the hub-and-spoke system may not be materializing as it was expected. As of January 2003, 90% of all regional jet flights in the United States had a hub or major airport at one end of that flight, and this number has been gradually increasing since 1995.