Regional airliner

Examples included the De Havilland Dragon Rapide biplane and the Douglas DC-3s, in large surplus after the war, which the aircraft manufacturers wanted to replace.

This "hand-me-down" process of supplying aircraft continued with designs like the Convair 440 and Douglas DC-6 also serving in this role while the first jets were introduced.

For instance, the Handley Page Jetstream (first flight in 1968) was intended for fewer passengers at much higher speeds, displacing smaller designs like the Beechcraft Queen Air.

Feedback from the airlines was fairly consistent, and De Havilland responded with the Dash 8 in 1984, which had economic benefits over the earlier generation machines and was faster and quieter as well.

In the early 1980s, the Dash 8's success sparked off development of a number of similar designs, including the ATR 42/72, Saab 340, Embraer Brasilia and Fokker 50.

Consequently, there were a relatively large number of aircraft offered by manufacturers in this sector of the market, pushing older 1950s designs from Fokker, Vickers and others into retirement.

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.

Hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion remains impeded by energy storage, high-power electric distribution and the lack of certification framework.

[7] Current projects are small 10-seaters, like the Israeli Eviation Alice or the Boeing-backed Zunum Aero ZA12 powered by a Safran Ardiden turboshaft and targeting 40-80% lower operating costs.

[7] 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.

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.