What is the Most Popular Regional Airliner

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Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 1,064

Hi,

I was just wondering what peoples opinion on what is the best regional airliner ever priduced, please give reasons for your opinions,

Cheers,

Wozza

Original post

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 2,513

Prop or Jet? What seat limit? The DC-9 was originally created as a "regional" aircraft but isn't seen as such today.

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 1,064

Sorry for my lack of detail, I am not particularly fussed weather it's a prop or a jet, it would be great to hear peoples opinions on both, I'd class a regional as under 120 seats (under B737, A319)'s which is where mainline aircraft are typically referred to start.

Member for

20 years 10 months

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Even less than 120 seats you can include the DC9-10/30, 737-100/200/500/600, A318, Fokker 70/100 and BAC111 not to mention the Russian manufacturer's.

I guess my point is that the modern "Regional Airline" mission hasn't been seen in decades past so it's difficult to pin down what the most popular Regional Airliner would be. All of the above aircraft I listed are a few decades old with the A318 and 736 being the exceptions.

Until the introduction of the RJ, or Small Jet, your typical Regional operator fed a mainline hub from airports within about a 300-500 nm range. With the RJ/SJ we're seeing that ring being extended to 1400+ nm, routes that had been operated by Mainline operators before. Even the term "mainline" is almost irrelivant as these airlines are moving into the RJ/SJ environment with 70-100 seat aircraft (The E-Jets and possible C-Series). JetBlue is about to start service with the E190 and US Airways has been flying the E170 for a while now. Northwest has been hinting at a large SJ order possibly to replace their aging DC9 fleet. Actually this isn't really that new as a few older airlines flew <100 seat aircraft. PSA use to fly the Avro which is only found at Regional operators now.

Sorry for the tangent but I find the term "regional" an interesting discriptor as both the aircraft and "mission" have changed with every passing decade.

With that being said, popularity is shown by numbers built I guess so Ih ave to think that these would be the most popular:

Jet: EMB-145 and CRJ-200 Without either of them we wouldn't see the route structures we have today.

Prop: Dash-8 and ATR-42 Just go to show that speed isn't everything. :) (The ATR-42-500 is an exception though)

I would also say that the Do328 and Saab 2000 would have been great airliners but they happened at the wrong time. The introduction of the RJ/SJ killed any hopes they had of a large market share even though they were very technologically advance, more than a lot of jets.

In the future the EMB-170 might be seen as a very popular model but it's way too early to tell that now. I know that the CRJ family doesn't stand a chance against the E-Jets.

Now I'm a bit too young to know much about the Regional airliners of earlier decades but I've worked with folks that liked the F27/227. Any thoughts on the B99 or Convairs?

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20 years 5 months

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I'd say the most popular ones are the Embraer 145 family or the CRJ series.

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18 years 11 months

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Yeah i would also say the 145 (Especially from where i go!)

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20 years 5 months

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In Brom...The Erj's are common to say the least.

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20 years 10 months

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Is the CRJ family very popular in the EU?

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24 years 2 months

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The F27 and F28 family (and that includes the F50/60/70/100) sold more then any competitor. of course they did last a lot longer then ATRs, DHC8s and the modern RJs.

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18 years 6 months

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I believe the Saab 2000 could of been huge and I personally blame Skywest. If they hadn't of cancelled their order for 20 then Saab might not of cancelled production.

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24 years 2 months

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Is the CRJ family very popular in the EU?

You see quite a bunch of CRJs in Europe, especially in Germany and France, thanks to LH and AF.
To that, you can add companies like BMI, BA which operate the ERJs.

Then you have SN with a fleet nearly only made of BAe146 / ARJ, as well as many examples in most other european airlines. This one might be the most common.

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20 years 10 months

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I believe the Saab 2000 could of been huge and I personally blame Skywest. If they hadn't of cancelled their order for 20 then Saab might not of cancelled production.

Even if Skywest kept their orginal order it would have only delayed the production cancellation. Plus, why would Skywest need another turboprop? They saw that the CRJ was going to play a bigger part in their future than any turboprop would so they shifted their priorities.

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18 years 6 months

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I know it made better sense for Skywest to order the CRJ but if the saab 2000 had been ordered it might of sparked interest from other airlines or Saab might of beared with it, if they were in production today I'm sure quite a few would be ordered.

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24 years 2 months

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I think all regional props do sterling work - often you see them operating into places where no jet could, especially some of the remote and basic Icelandic airfields. They are tough and go on for ever. I always liked flying in the Fokker 27, and then its place was taken in Iceland by the Fokker 50 - a little more upmarket but just as tough. Also it is superb to fly that dive approach into London City on a Fokker 50. Fly on VLM sometime to see what I mean.

The only regional jet I have experience of is the ARJ/BAe 146, with Aer Lingus and Sabena and SN Brussels. This is an OK plane and usually quite comfortable. But my one favourite among the regional jets is the CRJ. I just love CRJs :D When I see them at an airport I just have to get photos and video of them, and in Brussels the other week I was lucky enough to bag the IB one as it came in from Oviedo. They are phenomenal to see - their climb away speed is something else, they have hell of alot of power in those engines to give such superb performances. What would I give for a ride in one of those!!

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18 years 6 months

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I believe the ERJ is the most popular, and indeed the best RJ. In contradiciton to what Comet said I fail to see why airlines purchase the CRJ, it does'nt have and shape or form of STOL, looks, in my opinion, ugly and in general it is easily disliked. Give me an ERJ anyday

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24 years 2 months

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The CRJ is no STOL, and you won't get it into LCY, but it does have performance. It has speed on its side, and from reports I have read by people who have been on the CRJ-700, it is superbly powerful. From some angles (notably the back) the CRJ would win no beauty contests, but if it's looks you're on about, it is a better looking aircraft than the ARJ/BAe 146 - they look like a small heavy lift and not remotely streamlined or elegant, but they have performance, and in the end, that is what counts.

Although I agree that the ERJ145 is a very fine aircraft.

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18 years 6 months

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Yes, i agree with everyhthing that you said above, but I believe the CRJ is more suited to thinner, longer routes whereas the ERJ is more suited to short routes,

Wozza

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18 years 8 months

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Props are F27/F50 ATR 42/72 Dash-8-400 and the Short 360 and Jets has to be Avon/BAe 146 F28/F70/F100 and the new ERJ 170 that's about it i think.

James

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24 years 2 months

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Is the CRJ family very popular in the EU?

Very common to see them here in Spain as Air Nostrum/Iberia Regional operates 32 of them (and 21 Dash 8 by the way)

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20 years 10 months

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They are phenomenal to see - their climb away speed is something else, they have hell of alot of power in those engines to give such superb performances. What would I give for a ride in one of those!!

You might be suprised once you get inside. The passenger windows are closer to your knees than your head.

I've never flown the CRJ but listening to them on frequency I can say that their climb performance really suffers above about FL200. Very under powered.

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19 years 8 months

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Whiskey Delta,
What's the ERJ145 like on performance?