Regional jet

The term Regional jet, or RJ, describes a range of short-haul turbofan powered aircraft, whose use throughout the world expanded after the advent of Airline Deregulation in the United States in 1978. Regional jet airliners are not a new concept in aviation. Aeroflot, for example, used Yakolev Yak-40 regional sized mini-jet airliners for decades when its airline functioned as a state controlled national directive.

Large 70-100 passenger short haul regional aircraft in the western world have existed for years too, when National "Flag carrier airlines" began ordering the free world's first true purpose-built short-haul airliner, the Sud Aviation Caravelle, a twin turbojet airliner designed for use upon inter-European routes. To speed manufacturing, the Caravelle used the forward fuselage nose section of the de Havilland Comet, the West's first large-scale commercial jetliner, which was not as effective in continental-European flights.

Historical foundations

Simply classifying all short haul jet airliners as regional airliners is not historically accurate, for the epochs of aviation transcend such simple explanation.

Many of the following post World War II airliners where often used on shorter and economically significant prestige routes such as London-Paris, or New York-Chicago, by the world's airlines which have collectively been described in the past as; "flag airlines," "Big Four airlines," "Big Six airlines," "major airlines," and "trunk airlines.

With the arrival of coach travel, which blossomed during the post World War II years, larger airlines non-jet equipment soon migrated toward the "trunk airlines," "minor airlines," "feeder airlines" and "commuter airlines" throughout international air lanes and sky ways.

In the post-war era many aircraft manufacturers sought to create a replacement aircraft for the "ubiquitous" Douglas DC-3, first with large 40-50 passenger sized Convair 340's and Martin 202's, and later with turboprop powered aircraft like the Fokker F-27.

These earlier large 50 passenger aircraft had begun to trickle down to the larger trunk and minor airlines, which were used on shorter range regional routes that had become their forte, especially in the U.S. Smaller "mini-airliners" soon found niches regionally in the 1960s when aircraft manufacturers such as the British made Shorts Skyvan, Brazilian Embraer EMB 114 Bandirante, and French Nord 262, all sought to capture the lower end of the DC-3 replacement market.

In the 1970s, the market for smaller sized mini-airliners boomed with the process of route liberalization in the U.S known as Airline Deregulation went into force in 1978. Airline passengers in the U.S accustomed to flying larger jet aircraft and even the smaller "trickled down" short haul propeller motivated and equipped "propliners", with features such as aircraft lavatorys and air hostesses, were taken aback when aboard "puddle jumpers" with neither.

Through free market forces, airlines and aircraft manufacturers rapidly replaced these "puddle jumpers" with larger amenity equipped, turboprop "mini airliners," generally flown by regionally based smaller airlines to feed larger airlines' hub cities. The same market forces also allowed these "mini airliners" to be rapidly supplanted by faster longer range, first generation turbofan powered regional jets (as the first generation Bombardier CRJ became known), differentiating them from prior generation equipment.

List of RJs

; Bombardier Aerospace Canadair Regional Jet: derived from a stretch of the Canadair Challenger 600 bizjet

* Canadair CRJ-100 - 50-seater class that started the boom
* Canadair CRJ-200 - updated 50-seater class
* Canadair CRJ-700 - 70-seater class stretch of 50-seater
* Canadair CRJ-900 - 90-seater class stretch of 70-seater
* Canadair CRJ-1000 - 100-seater class stretch of 90-seater

; Embraer ERJ-145 family: derived from re-engining the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia turboprop
* Embraer EMB-145 - 50-seater class turbojet EMB-120
* Embraer EMB-140 - 40-seater class shrink of the 50-seater
* Embraer EMB-135 - 30-seater class shrink of the 40-seater

; Embraer E-Jets
* Embraer E-170
* Embraer E-175
* Embraer E-190
* Embraer E-195

; Bombardier Aerospace C-Series: under development
* Bombardier BRJX - cancelled
* Bombardier C110 - proposed
* Bombardier C130 - proposed

; Fairchild-Dornier 728 family: cancelled
* Fairchild-Dornier 728JET - 70-seater class
* Fairchild-Dornier 928JET - 90-seater class stretch of the 70-seater
* Fairchild-Dornier 528JET - 50-seater class shrink of the 50-seater

; Sukhoi Russian Regional Jet (RRJ)
* Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100)

; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries MRJ
* Mitsubishi MRJ-70
* Mitsubishi MRJ-90

;ACAC consortium
* ACAC ARJ21 - 70-seater class, built using MD90 tooling

;Yakovlev
*Yak-40
*Yak-42

;Antonov
*Antonov An-148

Development of short range airliners

The following is a list of civilian airliners including regional airliners by historical epoch, of aircraft with significant build numbers which preceded and set the course for the transition to, and rapid adoption of regional jet aircraft among the smaller airliners. Included are regional jet airliners and other aircraft with limited build numbers but highly significant technological features

hort haul civilian aircraft post war

Post World War II Civilian Airliners Prior to the "Jet Age" (None Long Range)

* Airspeed Ambassador
* Convair 240
* Douglas DC-4
* Douglas DC-5
* Ilyushin Il-12
* Ilyushin Il-14
* Martin 202
* Martin 404
* Saab 90 Scandia
* War surplus Douglas DC-3's
* Vickers VC.1 Viking
* Vickers Viscount

Post Korean War Short Haul Civilian Airliners

* Avro 748
* Fairchild Hiller FH-227
* Handley Page Dart Herald
* Fokker F27
* Lockheed L-188 Electra
* NAMC YS-11
* Vickers Vanguard
* War Surplus Douglas DC-3's

Post-war civilian short-haul "mini" Airliners

(Including the first "regional jets")

* Antonov An-2
* De Havilland Dove
* De Havilland Heron
* War surplus Douglas DC-3's
* Aérospatiale N 262
* Beechcraft Model 99
* De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
* Dornier Do 28
* Handley Page HP.137 Jetstream
* IAI Arava
* Let L-410 Turbolet
* Piper PA-31 Navajo
* Short SC.7 Skyvan
* BAe 146
* Bombardier CRJ100/200/440
* VFW-614
* Yakovlev Yak-40

hort-haul civilian "mini airliners"

(circa the 1978 free enterprise liberalization and "RJ" revolution)

Aircraft pre-1978 U.S deregulation

* Antonov An-24
* Nord 262
* Antonov An-28
* BAe Jetstream 31
* Beechcraft BE-99
* CASA C.212 Aviocar
* Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander
* Britten-Norman Trislander
* De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
* De Havilland Canada Dash 7
* Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante
* Fairchild Swearingen SA-226/-227 Metroliner
* Let L-410 Turbolet
* Mohawk 298
* Saunders ST-27
* Hawker-Siddeley HS-748
* Nihon YS-11
* Fairchild FH-227
* Convair 540/580/600/640 conversions

Aircraft post-1978 U.S deregulation

Regional turboprop airliners

* Antonov An-72
* Antonov An-140
* ATR 42
* ATR 72
* BAe ATP
* BAe Jetstream 41
* Beechcraft 1900
* CASA CN-235
* Cessna 208
* Bombardier Dash 8
* Dornier Do 228
* Dornier 328
* Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia
* Fokker F50
* Saab 340
* Saab 2000
* Shorts 330
* Shorts 360

Recent, operating, or proposed regional jet airliners

* Antonov An-148
* ARJ21
* BAe 146
* CRJ700/900/1000
* Embraer ERJ 145 family
* Fairchild-Dornier 328JET
* Mitsubishi Regional Jet

Recent, operating, or proposed short-haul airliners

* Airbus NSA (A320 follow on aircraft)
* Antonov An-148
* Boeing 717
* Boeing Y1
* Bombardier CSeries
* Embraer E-Jets
* Fokker 70
* Sukhoi Superjet 100

ee also

* List of airliners by seat capacity
* List of aircraft

References

* [http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1001302/comair_turns_30_airlines_early_days_humble/index.html Comair Turns 30 Airline's Early Days Humble]
* [http://www.yak.ru/ENG/FIRM/HISTMOD/yak-40.php Yakovlev Design Bureau website]
* [http://1000AIRCRAFTPHOTOS.COM History brief by History Brief] by Alfred Damen, edited by Johan Visschedijk (accessed August 12, 2006)
* [http://1000aircraftphotos.com/HistoryBriefs/SE210Caravelle.htm Sud-Est/Sud Aviation/Aérospatiale Caravelle]