1960s–1970s The
Sud Aviation Caravelle (80 to 140 seats), introduced in 1959 and ordered by many European
flag carriers, was the first purpose-built short-haul jetliner. It was a twin
turbojet design for inter-European routes. The Caravelle used the forward
fuselage nose section of the
de Havilland Comet, the first commercial
jetliner, not effective for continental-European flights. The
BAC One-Eleven (89 to 119 seats) was then introduced in 1965. In 1968,
Aeroflot introduced the 32-seat
Yakovlev Yak-40 and the 65- to 85-seat
Fokker F28 Fellowship was introduced in 1969. In 1975, the 40- to 44-seat
VFW-Fokker 614 saw service entry with its distinctive overwing engines, 19 were built. Some business jets like the
British Aerospace 125 (first delivery: 1964) and
Dassault Falcon 20 (1965) were operated by small airlines from the 1960s, and the small
Aerospatiale Corvette (1974) was used as a regional airliner from the 1970s.
1980s started service in May 1983 In 1978, the US
Airline Deregulation Act led to route
liberalization, favouring small airliners demand. US passengers were disappointed by these, lacking
aircraft lavatories or
flight attendants of larger jet aircraft. As feeder routes grew,
regional airlines replaced these small aircraft with larger turboprop airliners to feed larger
airline hubs. These medium airliners were then supplanted by faster, longer range, regional jets like the first
Bombardier CRJ100/200. Early small jets had higher operating costs than turboprops on short routes. The gap narrowed with better turbofans, and closed with the higher
utilization due to higher speeds. In 1983
British Aerospace introduced its
BAe 146 short-range jet, produced in three sizes between 70 and 112 seats: the -100, -200, and the largest -300, later renamed the Avro Regional Jet. Low
aircraft noise and short takeoffs were suited to city-center to city-center service, a small market niche, like the
de Havilland Canada Dash 7, but four engines led to higher maintenance costs than twin-engine designs and BAe did not produce a lower operating cost twin-engine design, unlike the
Dash 8. In 1988, the 97- to 122-seat
Fokker 100, a stretched F28, was introduced, followed by the shorter, 72– to 85-seat
Fokker 70 in 1994.
1990s family was introduced in 1992 with the
Bombardier CRJ-100. In total 1945 aircraft were built until the end of production in 2020 began in April 1997 Low fuel prices drove the development of the regional jet: in the 1990s
oil prices were around $10–20 per barrel.
Turboprop manufacturers wanted to develop their portfolio.
Canadair's purchase by
Bombardier in 1986 enabled a 50-seat stretched development of its
Challenger business jet, green-lighted by then chief executive
Laurent Beaudoin in March 1989. The first Bombardier four-abreast
Canadair Regional Jet was delivered in October 1992 to
Lufthansa CityLine.
Embraer then developed the 50-seat three-abreast
ERJ 145 from the
EMB-120 Brasilia turboprop, which was introduced in December 1996. They replaced the turboprops thanks to their better perceived image and larger range. On small-capacity long routes, they could offer a better service by increasing frequencies at a smaller capacity and could replace mainline
jet airliners like
McDonnell Douglas DC-9s and
Boeing 737s. Bombardier was 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.
2000s was introduced in 2004 and was followed by the
E-Jet E2 The share of US domestic passengers flying in 32- to 100-seat regional jets grew to one-third from 2000 to 2005, as
network carriers subcontracted low-volume routes to cheaper
commuter airlines with smaller planes. Amid regional jet usage saturation, bankruptcy of regional airlines and shrinking of
Delta Air Lines and
Northwest Airlines, cramped 50-seaters were evolving into more spacious 70- to 100-seaters, limited by union rules. In late 2005, Bombardier suspended its CRJ-200 production line. Between 2000 through 2006, 385 large planes were grounded while 1,029 regional jets were added. By June 2007, nearly a third of US domestic flights on major airlines were late, as using more smaller jets led to more crowded skies and runways in an already saturated system. US
major carriers high pilots' wages led them to subcontract flights to
regional airlines with lower labor costs. Pilot unions then demanded to regulate subcontracted aircraft size to a 50 seats maximum
scope clause. In turn, large routes were served by sub-optimal 50-seat jets which accelerated demand for those types in
North America. Embraer envisioned a market for more than 500 aircraft and planned to produce up to 80 a year, but at peak delivered 157 ERJs in 2000 while Bombardier delivered 155 CRJs in 2003. Many
CRJ100/200 were retired since 2003 and in 2013 the first
Embraer ERJ were disassembled: 50-seaters' value was dwindling as US carriers were dropping them. The ERJ retirements could be exacerbated because
Rolls-Royce plc restricts parts choice, making engine maintenance more expensive, but its TotalCare agreements provide cost predictability. The
Comac ARJ21 is a 78- to 90-seat jet manufactured by the Chinese state-owned aerospace company
Comac. Development began in March 2002, the first prototype was rolled out on 21 December 2007, and made its maiden flight on 28 November 2008. It received its
CAAC Type Certification on 30 December 2014 and was introduced on 28 June 2016 by
Chengdu Airlines. Resembling the
McDonnell Douglas MD-80/
MD-90 produced under licence in China, it features a 25°
swept,
supercritical wing designed by
Antonov and twin rear-mounted
General Electric CF34 engines.
Bombardier Aerospace developed the 108- to 160-seat CSeries powered by two
Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofans. The smaller CS100 entered service in July 2016 with
Swiss Global Air Lines and the larger CS300 entered service with
airBaltic in December. After the April 2016
CSeries dumping petition by Boeing,
Airbus acquired a 50.01% majority stake in the program in October 2017 and renamed it the
A220-100/300 in July 2018. was introduced in 2018 In 2017,
Embraer started calling large, almost
narrowbody regional jets "crossover" jets, for the
Embraer E-Jet E2 and the
CSeries. While those rival the
A320neo, the smaller
MRJ and
SSJ100 could be stretched. They are often the largest airliners which can access city airports like
London City Airport, benefiting from their longer
range and lower
fuel burn to open new markets while making lower
noise for better local community acceptance. In 2019, after attempting to renegotiate scope clauses, United Airlines ultimately decided to order fifty CRJs for its regional affiliates; the aircraft will be sourced from existing CRJ700 airframes and reconfigured with 50 seats in 3 classes. Bombardier will recertify the aircraft as the CRJ550 model, with a lower
MTOW to comply with the scope clauses, and hopes to sell this new configuration to replace up to 700 existing 50-seaters with US regional airlines. By August 2019, there were 1,100 50-seat jets operated worldwide including 700 in the US, many more than 20 years old.
SkyWest wants to replace 150 of its 200 ageing Bombardier CRJ200s and ERJs and while many have logged 30,000 cycles, their life may be extended to 60,000 cycles for 10-15 more years of service. SkyWest asked Bombardier, Embraer and Mitsubishi Aircraft to develop a new aircraft but the market is regulated by
scope clauses. The
Mitsubishi SpaceJet (ex MRJ), seating 70–90 passengers and manufactured by
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, made its first flight on 11 November 2015. After several delays, the program was canceled in February 2023. After
Bombardier Aviation divested its
CSeries and
Dash 8 programmes, it sold the
CRJ programme to
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in a deal that closed on 1 June 2020. ==Operations==