Demise of the 50-seat regional jet

Jackie Thompson writes: Aircraft manufacturers at the recent ERA general assembly in Gothenburg were surprisingly unanimous about one thing - the expected demise of the market for the 50-seat regional jet. They agreed that over shorter stage lengths of around 200nm, the 50-seater is losing popularity as it becomes economically unviable due to eye-watering fuel costs and falling yields. Whether they are manufacturers of turboprops, regional jets or both, they are predicting a migration away from the 50-seater up to 70 to 90-seat regional jets. Saab Aircraft Leasing gave two examples of carriers shedding their 50-seat aircraft: Swiss is getting rid of its 50-seater Saab 2000s and Regional, the Air France/KLM Group subsidiary, needs to consolidate its mixed Embraer, Fokker and Saab fleet and is set to offload its six leased 2000s next year. It is not often that rival manufacturers are all singing from the same hymn sheet, but on this subject they are all in tune.