Regional airliner

first flew in 1935 and had a range of around 1,000 miles (1,625 kilometers.) To keep short routes economical, airlines preferred using second hand aircraft than costlier new aircraft. In 2018, 245.4 million two-way seats were offered on turboprop flights, up from 201.4 million in 2009, with 97% of flights below and 87% below , and an average capacity increasing to 51 seats from 44 seats in 2009. The largest user was Air Canada with 12.7 million seats, followed by Flybe with 10.3 million and Wings Air with 9.24 million. Canada was the largest market with 30.5 million seats, then Indonesia with 14.3 and the US with 13.4. The busiest turboprop airport was Vancouver (2.75 Million seats) followed by Toronto Pearson (2.64) then Seattle-Tacoma (2.39). Noise Although turboprops are quiet to outside observers, prop wash makes them noisy inside. Active noise reduction should reduce the cabin noise of the Bombardier Q400 or the ATR 72-600. Market forecast Flight Global fleet forecasts for the 2016–2035 period estimate 3,081 turboprop deliveries with a $63 billion value and 4,042 regional jet deliveries for a $130 billion value. Embraer claims crossover regional jets are more cost-efficient than current turboprops beyond , routes that represented 45% of 70-seat turboprops flights in 2017. This has led Widerøe to deploy Embraer E-Jet E2s on longer routes (except for destinations with short runways and severe weather conditions north of the Arctic Circle) and AirBaltic to replace its fleet of 12 Dash 8 Q400s with Airbus 220s. From 2018 to 2037, ATR forecasts 3,020 turboprop deliveries: 630 with 40–60 seats and 2,390 with 61–80 seats. Hybrid aircraft As legacy regional aircraft are used on very short sectors like connecting islands, their replacements could be hybrid or electric aircraft. Hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion remains impeded by energy storage, high-power electric distribution and the lack of certification framework. ATR Aircraft dismiss a fully electric propulsion as carrying the same payload over the same distances as an ATR 42, current batteries would weigh . A project of larger scale is currently under development by Swedish startup company, Heart Aerospace, which is aiming to build a 30-seater hybrid-electric regional airliner, the ES-30. The company revealed its demonstrator aircraft in 2024, the Heart X1, and is expected to undertake electric flight mid-2025. ==Design==

Turboprop regional aircraft Regional airlines serving small hubs or airports with short runways will often use turboprop aircraft with propeller engines versus jet engines. de Havilland Canada (Dash 7 and Dash 8), Antonov (An-24 and An-140), Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation (MA60, MA600 and MA700) and ATR (ATR 42 and ATR 72) are manufacturers of this type. Regional jets is one of the most delivered regional jets still in production as of July 2024 A regional jet (RJ) is a jet airliner with less than 100 seats. The first one was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by the widespread Yakovlev Yak-40, Fokker F-28 and BAe 146. The 1990s saw the emergence of the Canadair Regional Jet and its Embraer Regional Jet counterpart, then the larger Embraer E-Jet family and multiple competing projects. In the US, they are limited in size by scope clauses. Accommodation NextGen 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. Compared with bigger planes, many frequent fliers find regional jets cabins cramped and uncomfortable, with a lower ceiling, tight seating and single-class cabins forbidding a first-class upgrade. ==In production aircraft==