I suspect that taxes can still penetrate those bubbles, it sure did for my wife... she quickly tired of three steps forward, two steps back.

The danger is entitlements associated with those taxes.. it's VERY hard to roll back entitlements.

Sooooo, who thinks props are going to make a come back? I sure hope they do.

Glad we’re back to aviation. I doubt the mainline feeding carriers will go back to props. Mostly based on customer experience, not that there’s anything wrong with a turboprop.

I think you’d need

A. A remarkably good product with a noticeably better cabin. Quieter than a jet, WiFi, ample bin space, more legroom, etc.

B. Savvy marketing. Highlight why it’s better from a pax perspective than a tired -200 or 145. Make people excited to fly on it. Shoot, just getting rid of a few seats and adding a snack station turned an ancient 70 seater into a 50 seater people are excited to fly on. Also harp on it being better for the environment. You could probably hook a lot of younger travelers who have never set foot in a turboprop before and don’t have the associated bad memories. Plenty of wealthy people float around in Kingairs and Pilatuses- the stigma can be overcome.

If the US population were....smarter?....yes. When “regionals” quit doing ATL-HOU type of legs or when small, Class D airspace-type airports start losing flights, maybe they’ll wake up and happily accept a Q, an ATR, OR, now this was in 2019, a German company was reviving the Do328.

If it's cheaper, people will buy the ticket. They will make clever to them jokes about it as they board or will make disparaging remarks on facebook about having to ride on an "old prop". But the consumer has shown price point is really all they think about when booking a fight.

That's the conventional wisdom in a lot of things, but most US legacies consciously moved to all-jet service on regional routes primarily for (irrational) customer preference. Or at least it was a selling point.

On point B, market it to my generation and the zoomers with pointing out the reduction in per seat fuel usage vs an RJ. That will 100% work with the younger generations. Older ones just do it with the price savings, however minimal, on the ticket.

Antonov’s with WiFi and a keurig in the back. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

http://www.warbirdalley.com/images/AN2-Colt-1.jpg