Regional jet
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The term Regional jet, or RJ, describes a range of short to medium-haul turbofan powered aircraft, whose use throughout the world expanded after the advent of Airline Deregulation in the United States in 1978.
Regional jet airliners are not a new concept in aviation. Aeroflot, for example, used Yakolev Yak-40 regional sized mini-jet airliners for decades when its airline functioned as a state controlled national directive.
Large 70-100 passenger short haul regional aircraft in the western world have existed for years too, when National "Flag carrier airlines" began ordering the free world's first true purpose-built short-haul airliner, the Sud Aviation Caravelle, a twin turbojet airliner designed for use upon inter-European routes. To speed manufacturing, the Caravelle used the forward fuselage nose section of the de Havilland Comet, the West's first large-scale commercial jetliner, which was not as effective in continental-European flights.
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Historical foundations
Simply classifying all short haul jet airliners as regional airliners is not historically accurate, for the epochs of aviation transcend such simple explanation.
Many of the following post World War II airliners where often used on shorter and economically significant prestige routes such as London-Paris, or New York-Chicago, by the world's airlines which have collectively been described in the past as; "flag airlines," "Big Four airlines," "Big Six airlines," "major airlines," and "trunk airlines.
With the arrival of coach travel, which blossomed during the post World War II years, larger airlines non-jet equipment soon migrated toward the "trunk airlines," "minor airlines," "feeder airlines" and "commuter airlines" throughout international air lanes and sky ways.
In the post-war era many aircraft manufacturers sought to create a replacement aircraft for the "ubiquitous" Douglas DC-3, first with large 40-50 passenger sized Convair 340's and Martin 202's, and later with turboprop powered aircraft like the Fokker F-27.
These earlier large 50 passenger aircraft had begun to trickle down to the larger trunk and minor airlines, which were used on shorter range regional routes that had become their forte, especially in the U.S. Smaller "mini-airliners" soon found niches regionally in the 1960s when aircraft manufacturers such as the British made Shorts Skyvan, Brazilian Embraer EMB 114 Bandirante, and French Nord 262, all sought to capture the lower end of the DC-3 replacement market.
In the 1970s, the market for smaller sized mini-airliners boomed with the process of route liberalization in the U.S known as Airline Deregulation went into force in 1978. Airline passengers in the U.S accustomed to flying larger jet aircraft and even the smaller "trickled down" short haul propeller motivated and equipped "propliners", with features such as aircraft lavatorys and air hostesses, were taken aback when flying aboard on "puddle jumpers" with had neither.
Through free market forces, airlines and aircraft manufacturers rapidly replaced these "puddle jumpers" with larger amenity equipped, turboprop "mini airliners," generally flown by regionally based smaller airlines to feed larger airlines' hub cities. The same market forces also allowed these "mini airliners" to be rapidly supplanted by faster longer range, first generation turbofan powered regional jets (as the first generation Bombardier CRJ became known), differentiating them from prior generation equipment.
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, the reduced the need for low-cost regional airliners. And although turboprops are quiet to outside observers, propwash makes them very noisy inside.[1] 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.
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, a decision that looked foolish with the successful introduction of the E-Jets.
The Antonov An-148 is still being certified, 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. The Sukhoi Superjet 100, a 60 to 95-seat jet developed by the Russian aerospace firm Sukhoi with assistance of Ilyushin and Boeing, is expected to make its maiden flight in September 2007.
Development of short range airliners
The following is a list of civilian airliners including regional airliners by historical epoch, of aircraft with significant build numbers which preceded and set the course for the transition to, and rapid adoption of regional jet aircraft among the smaller airliners. Included are regional jet airliners and other aircraft with limited build numbers but highly significant technological features. In recent times, manufacturers have attempted to market their larger aircraft as regional airliners to accommodate the needs of airlines and their airline holding companies financial and economic cost structuring labor goals, though with limited success as evidenced by the low build airframe numbers of the fuel efficient Boeing 717 and Fokker 70 products.
- List of commercial short-haul civilian passenger aircraft post war (Prior to 1978 and airline deregulation)
- List of commercial short-haul civilian passenger "jet airliners," recent, operating, or proposed
Point to Point regional jet airlines business model experiences in the United States
During the course of development and introduction of the new generation CRJ and ERJ regional jets, much hope in the U.S. was placed upon airlines developing more point to point services with the advanced speed and range capabilities of such radically faster equipment than the competing turboprops. A number of smaller airlines have tried in the past to go head to head against the pricing power of the much larger mainline, legacy carriers and their regional affiliates. Due to this competition and the willingness of many air travelers to drive and transit significant miles to alternative but out of the way airports to find less expensive prices than what are traditionally possible with the cost structure required to fly smaller regional jet equipment, thus far these attempts have been unsuccesful.
Among some of the better know airlines in the United States that have experimented with regional jet operations point to point are Midway Airlines, Independence Air, and the most ambitious of all ExpressJet Airlines. Unfortunately, as mentioned none of these airlines have been successful at making the model work, and all of these mentioned have gone out of business except for ExpressJet Airlines which has retreated back to feeding passengers into its mainline partners hubs in Houston, Cleveland, and Newark. In Europe, there is some evidence success has been achieved unlike the U.S. with the point to point predominately regional jet model with some airlines, in particular with the flag airline carrier Luxair.
See also
References
- ^ "Airlines give propellers another spin". MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
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- Comair Turns 30 Airline's Early Days Humble
- Yakovlev Design Bureau website
- History brief by History Brief by Alfred Damen, edited by Johan Visschedijk (accessed August 12, 2006)
- Sud-Est/Sud Aviation/Aérospatiale Caravelle
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