Regional jet
The first aircraft considered part of this category was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by Douglas DC-9, BAC One-Eleven, Yakovlev Yak-40, Fokker F28, and BAe 146.
This time period also saw the bankruptcy of Fokker in 1996 and departure of BAE Systems from the market in 2001, significantly reducing the number of RJ manufacturers.
[12] 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.
The Caravelle used the forward fuselage nose section of the de Havilland Comet, the first commercial jetliner, not effective for continental-European flights.
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.
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.
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.
[citation needed] 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.
[17] 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.
[18] US major carriers high pilots' wages led them to subcontract flights to regional airlines with lower labor costs.
United Aircraft Corporation subsidiary Sukhoi developed the Superjet 100, it made its maiden flight on 19 May 2008 and was introduced in April 2011 with Armavia.
[20] 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.
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.
[23] 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.
[27] 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.
RJs allow airlines to open new "long, thin" routings with jet equipment which heretofore did not exist, such as Atlanta to Monterrey, Nuevo León.
[citation needed] The idea that regional jets would provide point-to-point service and bypass the hub-and-spoke system is debated.
[citation needed] However an International Center for Air Transportation Report in 2004 noted that regional jets were no longer used solely for hub feeder operations.
As such they filled a gap in the market by flying on longer routes than turboprops, but shorter than the narrow body jets.
