Turboprops Are Here To Stay

Quietly but surely, the noisy, bumpy, fuel-efficient turboprops are making a comeback as fuel costs climb to record highs and airlines struggle to stay afloat.

With the price of oil reaching $120 a barrel, aviation fuel cost, which now becomes a third of an airline's operating cost, is one expenditure that no airline can ignore.

Until recently, greater passenger comfort was the main focus for many commuter airlines. Turboprops, with loud propeller noise and vibrating passenger cabins, gave way to the quieter faster regional jets. Turboprop market shrank and turboprop manufacturers, Fokker and Saab, had either declared bankruptcy or abandoned production of turboprops altogether.

When propeller driven planes can make short trips with a quarter to a third less fuel than regional jets, airlines that only a short time ago were retiring their turboprop fleets in favor of all-jet fleets are now giving a second thought to the fuel-efficient turboprops.

As a result, there has been a clear reversal of trends in the regional airline business. Aircraft manufacturers Canada’s Bombardier and France’s ATR have increased production to 140 planes in 2008, after making 100 deliveries in 2007. This compares with only 26 deliveries in 2002. In the commuter airliner market, turboprops are outselling equivalent regional jets by a factor of two to one.

With increasing market interest, Bombardier is considering to offer a larger 90-seat Q400, and ATR is contemplating designing a new aircraft model. These new planes, which can fly at higher cruising altitudes, would have advanced noise/vibration suppression systems and offer in-flight comfort levels comparable to regional jets.

So, the turboprops are here to stay for good reasons: high aviation fuel cost and optimized operation efficiency.

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