Honest question, why are there for the most part no turboprops flying in the US as regional airliners anymore? Do passengers really try to avoid them for whatever reason, or is there something else that isn't obvious.

 

The Q400 could have lived on like the CRJ900…. But DHC forgot to put window shades in it for Horizon. That translates to 2hrs of blinding sunlight at FL250 going across Washington to Montana on top of the clouds….. at a snails pace…. Add in the prop drone for a bonus…

Pax volume probably killed all the 19-30 seat jets

 

Turboprops are a niche aircraft. They use a bit less fuel but are a lot slower. That means they are only good for short routes. While many like to think they save a lot of money, they don't. A Q400 actually about the same as a CRJ700. And fuel costs aren't as important as many pilots think. The opportunity cost of a turboprop is greater than the potential fuel savings. A regional plane is expected to last over 20 years. Take a look at what the regional airline market looked like 20 years ago. To be successful, a regional needs to be able to quickly change its route structure. A turboprop isn't as versatile as an RJ. While the Dash-8 saved CommuteAir some fuel on their EWR-ALB route in 2008, it would have prevented them from bidding on the EWR-MCI route in 2018.

A used Q400 is $12.5 million. A used CRJ700 is about $12 million. A Q400 burns about 10.4 lbs/nm. A CRJ700 burns about 14.0 lbs/nm. That's about a 34% fuel savings for a Q400. And that 34% fuel savings is only going to be able to happen on a small percentage of flights. Those flights will be slower, so therefore the airline will need more planes and crews to get the same level of service.

 

Also passengers hate turboprops and they don't have as high of a service ceiling meaning that wx can be harder to avoid.

 

Bring back the Shorts 360 for all regional feed. There, I said it.

 

​​​​​​This is a good analysis. The niche role that the Q400 fills quite well though are routes like Aspen to Denver. It can take 70+ people and all their skis with an alternate. The CRJ7 currently on the route gets half the seats blocked off.

I'm quite amazed though if Horizon parked all of theirs because of no sunshades.

 

This is untrue regarding the CRJ-700. The only time that they can’t fill up these flights is if the weather is bad enough in Denver where the alternate has to be pretty far away, or if there is a high tailwind or some kind of reduced braking action. Those flights go full with 70 pax a good percentage of the time.

 

That's good to hear!

 

The 175 may be another story though. We will see how it does in December.

 

It is true, the sunshade part. 🤪