Posted on 03/25/2008 4:07:29 AM PDT by decimon
BRUSSELS, Belgium - As fuel prices soar to record highs and airlines struggle to maintain profitability, the unglamorous but fuel-efficient turboprop regional airliner is making a remarkable comeback.
The revival of the propeller-driven planes — which typically consume a quarter to a third less fuel than equivalent jets — marks a significant new trend in the industry. Until recently, many commuter airlines had been determined to consign the planes to history and convert to all-jet fleets which offer greater passenger comfort.
Although the latest generation of turboprops has addressed some of the comfort issues by flying above turbulence and providing quieter cabins, analysts say the airlines' money worries about their bottom line now outweigh any passenger preferences.
With jet fuel prices 60 percent to 70 percent higher than a year ago, regional jets no longer offer good economics for short-haul flights, said Michael Dyment, an aviation analyst at Nexa Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C., corporate finance group.
"Nowadays, operating efficiency trumps any passenger considerations," Dyment said.
The world's remaining manufacturers of turboprops for commuter airlines, Canada's Bombardier and France's ATR, have ramped up production to 140 of the planes this year, after making 100 deliveries in 2007. This compares with only 26 in 2002.
"There has been a clear reversal of trends in the regional airline business over the past three to four years," said Richard Maslem, an editor of Airliner World, a British trade magazine. "Airlines that only a short time ago were championing the cause for the regional jet and suggesting the end of the line for turboprop models are now having to eat their words."
The regional sector as a whole experienced something of a boom, with traffic growth estimated at almost 8 percent in 2007, ranging from 3.1 percent in the United States to more than 9 percent in China.
While jets such as the Embraer E-series still topped the delivery list, the upsurge was led by turboprops, which accumulated 210 orders from clients worldwide.
The 1950s-era Fokker 27 was typical of the first generation of short-haul airliners with gas turbine engines driving propellers, which acquired a reputation for fuel economy and ruggedness.
Passengers, however, hated the propeller noise, vibrating cabins and susceptibility to turbulence at low altitudes.
As the next generation was entering service in the 1980s, many feeder airlines favored speedier and quieter 30- to 70-seat jets, such as those produced by Brazil's Embraer. This sparked predictions that they would eventually replace the turboprops.
By the beginning of the millennium, several turboprop manufacturers — including Fokker and Saab — had either declared bankruptcy or abandoned production of turboprops, leaving Bombardier ATR as the only major turboprop manufacturer.
But tight economic times have revived demand for the propeller craft over the past couple of years. A recent report by the market research firm Forecast International attributed this to the need by regional airlines to cut costs and reduce fares in the face of competition from low-fare carriers.
Jet fuel now averages $3.70 a gallon in the United States — nearly double the price a year ago. Local airlines, which generally are run on very slim margins, already routinely resort to fuel-saving measures such as taxiing out on a single engine and coasting to landings by idling the engines.
With market interest growing, Bombardier is evaluating lengthening its existing 78-seat Q-400 to 90 seats, and its French rival is considering launching a totally new aircraft rather than extend its existing 70-seat ATR-72. The new models would also have advanced noise and vibration suppression systems and would fly at higher cruising altitudes than their forerunners, offering in-flight comfort levels comparable to jets.
The stakes are high for both companies, because analysts predict a requirement of nearly 1,500 regional aircraft from 2007 through 2016 to keep up with projected demand.
"What has happened with new-generation turboprops is on short flights and with a smaller capacity they can open up or sustain markets that jets cannot. So you get the best of both worlds — comfort for passengers and financial viability for the airline operator because of the 30 percent lower per seat costs," said John Strickland, director of JLS Consulting, a London-based aviation consultancy firm.
Strickland also pointed to the widening use of turboprops among partner subsidiaries of such companies as Lufthansa, Alaska Air, Air France and Quantas, where they feed traffic to the carriers' jet routes.
Luxembourg's airline Luxair typifies the turnaround.
In 2000, the carrier decided to discontinue the turboprop fleet it had operated since the 1950s and replace it with commuter jets. But as fuel prices skyrocketed, the airline turned to the more economical propeller models, and placed orders in 2006 for a fleet of new Q-400s.
Among other orders in recent weeks:
• Seattle-based Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group Inc., ordered 15 of the Q-400 turboprops from Bombardier, with options for 20 more, in a deal worth nearly $400 million.
• SAS, the joint flag carrier of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, reversed its decision to discard its fleet of Q-400s after a series of landing gear incidents. Instead, it reached a compensation agreement with the planemaker that included orders for 27 new aircraft of an improved model with options for 24 more — a potential value of $1.75 billion.
Paleo props ping
After flying way too many hours in Shorts, my bladder and kidney lift surgery has made me feel much better. Let’s hope the next generation of pilots is able to synchronize the props. It can be like getting your head split open with harmonic distortion.
Or petroleum companies could stop with the DeBeers false scarcity and produce more petroleum and sell more barrels for less per barrel and end up making even more money.
I haven't much experience with turboprop aircraft. I did take a couple of flights between NYC and Rochester, NY in de Havilland high-wing planes. I liked them.
Which Petroleum company do you think is holding back crude oil production? Only OPEC is willing to do this, no one else.
Investor owned oil companies control a much smaller share of the world’s oil supply than oil producing nations.
i like them myself....but Im kinda old school too
odd, Im from Roch as well and feel the same way....I love the way that flight lingers over the finger lakes
One flight was on a calm summer day and the plane flew relatively low. Being able to watch the green rolling terrain below was most pleasant.
Uhh...well...I'm not from Rottenchester Rochester but I know what you mean. ;-)
I'm from NYC but worked for the Big Yellow.
You can thank the stupic liberal politicians and the stupid people who continue to elect them. Their is more oil under the ground and in America then we have but to use it, but the politicians worldwide know that people are gulliable and will beilive them is they repeat the same lies over and over and over again. Much as the government run schools have brainwashed the children today into the lie that all things are a resource, you know, think green.
And they disregard science, much more and worse, the faith of God and His Christ.
Hence, stupid is as stupid does. America and Europe have joined the other stupid nations of the world in their quest for self destructions.
When the blind lead the blind, all will fall into the ditch. I will beleive God first, science is but the understanding of the physical world that God created and todays godless people fear where there is no fear. So be it.
Then you might ask yourself why the oil companies didn't go for that oil before being blocked by Greenies and political shenanigans. The answer is that oil peaks on an economic curve and not a geological one.
How apropos.....
Ahh the Lockheed Constellation, one of the most beautiful airplanes ever built. Bring ‘em back...please.
Gee...
I called this one WAY BACK in meetings in 1995, when the rush to RJ’s began in earnest...
The REAL problem for Turbos is that:
A) Almost everyone has stopped making them...
B) Clinton’s mid-90’s knee-jerk rules changes have made small turbos (And small-city service) unprofitable.
The RJ’s have always been terribly inefficient under 300-400 miles, and were never designed to be hub-spoke aircraft.
I could go on and on with examples, like operational altitude availability, etc,etc...
Call me strange, but I liked them too. Seeing and feeling those big, powerful props accelerate down the runway was kinda exciting in a physical way. And it was a little like landing a big, friendly pickup truck instead of a fast car (which was a good thing in places like Charleston WV, which has a flattened hilltop with lights).
The biggest gripe I had was the absurd lack of seat and leg room, not the turboprops. And don't even get me started about the "food". But I must admit, I like the old prop planes just fine.
A) Almost everyone has stopped making them...
I have no idea what the demand might be but 140 per year might be enough for any phasing (back) in of these planes. Or maybe an increased demand will bring more players to the game.
"In its rush to fill the purchase order from Southwest Airlines, the Fokker Company unfortunately did not notice the typographical error in the purchase contract."
“The 1950s-era Fokker 27 .............
Passengers, however, hated the propeller noise, vibrating cabins and susceptibility to turbulence at low altitudes. “
I loved the sound of those F-27 Rolls Royce turboprops!
Screw Turboprops. This will insure the only Airline I will fly if possible, domestically will be Southwest.
The Southwest Model doesn’t work very well in the South Bend’s and Grand Junction’s of the world.
The cost of fuel is going to make them a NECCESITY, very soon, but it takes YEARS to develop new models.
AMEN! I had my fill over the years having to fly Scareways commuter turboprops. No more for me. Especially during the South's tornado/thunderstorm season in the Spring.
That’s why Avis, Hertz, and Enterprise is for. Fly and then drive.
C'mon, real men like plane rides like bucking broncos. Real men like lightning strikes. Real men like inverted landings in places they'd never intended visiting.
Once you hear a Rolls-Royce Dart engine like on the F-27, you’ll never forget it. I heard them a few times growing up in Virginia, when a small airline at our airport (Lynchburg, Air Virginia) had a couple of old second-hand British Hawker Siddley HS.748s, that used those engines. There’s nothing else that sounds like them.
I know that one of Delta’s commuter carriers (I think Atlantic Southeast Airlines) still has a number of ATR-72s that fly short routes in and out of Atlanta to places like Birmingham, Macon, Greenville, etc. They were talking about phasing those out and adding yet more 50-seat RJs, but now maybe they’ll keep them.
}:-)4
This real man left his pucker print on many a turboprop seat cushions during his travel days. Seeing the rosy cheeked youngster pilots wearing captain’s hats that came down around their ears didn’t bolster this man’s confidence any either. LOL!
exactly - not so fast as youd splatter if things got sideways
I LIKE turboprops - they feel like real airplanes.
The only thing better would be taking a trip in a DC-3 or a Lockheed Constellation! (I’ve already flown in a B-17!)
Oh come on now... you know there is nothing better than flying in a litteral boxcar that someone decided to strap a set of wings to the roof of.
Heck with cigar tubes... Brick is the shape of the past and future.
My one ride in a DC-3 was from St. Louis to Fort Leonard Wood in 1966. The engines looked like they were attached with Liquid Solder and the pilot couldn't quite achieve altitude before beginning descent. The flight was bumpier than on the DC-8 from NYC to St. Louis.
Got to be in a Lake Central DC 3 from Portsmouth Oh to Cincinnati way back in the day. Pretty neat experience for a ten year old!
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