When a regional aviation operator has to make a choice of aircraft, the first call, he or she has to take is whether to go for a turboprop or a regional jet. Both types of aircraft have their own advantages and disadvantages. But it is for the operator to take a call based on the business model and route networking. Turboprops and regional jets are route-specific, they are not meant for long haul but for short and medium haul operations and on thin routes.

At this juncture in India when regional routes are being opened up, both for the government and operators, the choice of aircraft becomes critical in the running of a successful airline. The emphasis on connecting un-served and underserved markets, indeed, has given a major boost to regional aircraft. The ideal mix is that of turboprops for short haul and regional jets for medium haul operations, importantly depending upon load factors.

Four Categories

As per Wikipedia, the flight length is broadly put in four categories – short haul (under three hours), medium haul (three to six hours), long haul (six to 12 hours) and ultra-long haul flight (above 12 hours). When we talk of short and medium haul in India, we give that much more margin with regard to distance/time and consider those flights within 90 minutes as short haul and within four hours as medium haul on domestic routing. While one could fly a regional jet from Bengaluru to Delhi, it would not make sense as there is traffic density, requiring a narrow-body single-aisle aircraft up to 180 seats.

In view of the traffic load factors between major and metro airports, the regional aircraft becomes irrelevant. Hence, we see regional aircraft deployed between metros and non-metros with flying time, invariably less than two hours. The pick of regional aircraft for the operators are: Embraer’s E-Jets family; Bombardier’s CRJ; Bombardier’s turboprop Q400s and the ATR family of turboprops. ATR holds a dominant share in the Indian regional aviation market.

Regional Players in India

In India, we have four regional players – Air India Regional; Air Costa; Air Pegasus and TruJet. Air India Regional operates a mixed fleet of turboprops and regional jets (three CRJ and nine ATR aircraft). Air Pegasus and TruJet fly ATR aircraft while Air Costa has deployed Embraer E-Jets. Besides, we have mainline operators such as SpiceJet and Jet Airways who use turboprops on short haul journeys. It truly is a case of capacities and presently capacities are being created in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The obvious choice of aircraft is between the two – turboprop or regional jet.

Short Runway Operations

One of the advantages of a regional aircraft is that it can operate from airfields that have short runways. Operating at maximum weights, the ERJ170 and the CRJ700 require between 5,000 and 5,600 feet of runway. The Q400, at its maximum weight requires 4,800 feet of runway, while the ATR 72 requires 4,300 feet of runway. Regional destinations such as Pondicherry has a 4,500 feet runway which comfortably accommodates the ATR 72, imposes load or range restrictions on the Q400 due to lower uplifted fuel; but greater restrictions on the regional jets.

As can be seen, the deployment of ATR in India is by five players as it displays better fuel economy, though speed could be a major limitation. “For a typical Bengaluru-Hyderabad sector, which is 250 nm, the aircraft consumes approximately 770 kg of fuel. The Q400 consumes close to 1,000 kg, the CRJ700 consumes close to 1,200 kg and the Embraer E170 1,300 kg, all three aircraft carrying 78 passengers. Fuel consumption for the regional jets will operationally be lower, as even with a full passenger load, the fuel burnt for a 250 nm trip is just 10 to 13 per cent of the tank capacity, keeping the aircraft close to 4,000 kg lighter than the maximum take-off weight and thus burning lesser fuel.” On a typical short route of 300 nm the fuel consumption of an ATR 72 is roughly half that of a regional jet.

Fuel Burn

Till recently, fuel is to account for nearly 40 per cent of operating costs of an airline. Now that fuel prices have come down, it is making a big difference to the bottom lines of the company. However, fuel is the largest cost differentiator between turboprops and regional jets, being in similar weight categories, operating similar sectors, landing and parking fees are similar. “Considering that the faster turboprop and the much faster jets can squeeze in extra flights per day, the maintenance costs go up, but so does revenue generation. Geared turbofan engines (GTF), which will power the Bombardier CSeries, the second generation Embraer EJets and the Airbus neo, offer greater fuel economies.”

Time is key in operations and quick turnarounds help in better revenues. “On a 300 nm sector, a regional jet can save as much as 20 minutes when compared to the ATR 72 and around 10 minutes when compared to the Q400. In a typical day starting at 6.00 a.m. and ending at 10 p.m., a turboprop like the ATR 72 can fly eight 300 nm sectors, the Q400 nine sectors, while a regional jet can fly 10 sectors. This allows a 78-seat regional jet to fly more passengers per day, promises greater fleet utilisation and a larger network/frequency with a smaller fleet of airplanes.”

Regional Trends

As the passenger load factors from Tier-II and -III cities holds enormous promise, the regional aviation market is trending towards 70/130-seat airplanes such as the second generation Embraer E-Jets and the Bombardier CSeries blurring the boundaries between regional and mainline. With passenger growth anticipated, airline operators need to look ahead.

FOR SHORT HAUL MARKETS, THE BEST BET IS TURBOPROP AND FOR MEDIUM HAUL MARKETS, IT IS REGIONAL JETS

As regards passengers, presently they are driven by price and easy connectivity factors and nothing else. They are not interested in meals, inflight entertainment or other features. Passengers, except the discerning ones, are not even aware on the kind of aircraft whether it is a propeller driven turboprop or a jet, they are flying in. Some passengers may consider propellers on a plane as old technology and a noisy aircraft. Technology-wise turboprops are upfront having the latest equipment on board – radar, GPS, Heads Up Displays, noise cancellation, etc. Speeds too have improved. Both jets and turboprops are turbine powered. The latter has a bigger fan which turns more slowly than the smaller encased fan on a pure jet. The turbine used on a turboprop is designed specifically for the application and burns much less fuel.

Operational Costs

When compared with turbofan, turboprop savings on short routes are significant and, according to ATR, can reach five per cent of a brand new aircraft value per year of operation. Even though turboprops are more efficient for regional routes, there is need for capacity and capability building. Presently, turboprops account for over half of all regional aircraft deliveries and are dominant in the 50/70-seat category. On shorter routes, speed difference is too small and cash operating cost and acquisition costs too great to justify the higher costs of a jet. ATR also pointed out that when looking at the 70-seat segment where most competition has taken place, 75 per cent of aircraft ordered since 2005 are turboprops. The era of the once-dominant 50-seat regional jet is now long over. Indeed, the heyday of the 70-seat jet may already have passed by, as market demand now centres on 90+-seat passenger aircraft.

The current regional aircraft fleet amounts to around 7,200 units (30/120 seats), of which 40 per cent are turboprops. The average age of this fleet is 15 years (19 years for turboprops and 11 years for regional jets). The most important markets for regional aircraft have been historically North America and Europe. In the last 10 years, fast developing markets in Asia, Latin America and Africa have fuelled the growth, especially for turboprops. Today Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe represent about 60 per cent of the world passenger scheduled turboprop fleet.

As markets mature and capacities increase in Asia, the deployment has to be based on higher seat configuration aircraft. However, for short haul markets, the best bet is turboprop and for medium haul markets, it is regional jets, besides the factor of passenger load dictating aircraft acquisition. The operator has to look for an ideal mix.