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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 2529.PDF
ommercia Aircraft Directory Part 1 Regional jets and turb The past 12 months has seen a regional jet boom, with sales flourishing and new models brought to market ANDREW DOYLE/MUNICH MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/LONDON DATA TABLES/AR TRANSPORT INTELLIGENCE THE REGIONAL aircraft sector has been dominated in the past year by jet product launches, namely the Fairchild Aerospace 428JET and 5 2 8/72 8/92 8JET family, Embraer RJ-170/190 and Airbus A318. Product development activity in the turboprop airliner market has virtually ground to a halt as airlines scramble to re-equip with jets. Lastyear almost 80% of the 570 regional air liner orders placed were for regional jets which also represented just under half of the 3 3 0 deliv eries in the regional sector. This is the closest so far that regional jet deliv eries have come to the turboprops and next year it is expected that they will surpass turboprops for die first time next year. The trend for turboprop operators seeking to move up to small jets continues to drive demand for the 50-seat jets. Meanwhile sales of the new 37 and 70-seat jet derivatives (ie, the ERJ-135 and CRJ-700) are getting into their stride, the latter category representing the upper edge of many US pilot scope clauses as agreed. The fragile regional market has already seen the exodus of several manufacturers recently including Fokker, Saab and BAe's turboprop armjetstream. The market will not sustain the large number of patricipants now competing to produce jets and consolidation is likely this year. EMBRAER SPECULATION Meanwhile, Embraer has been the subject of much speculation about a possible link with another aerospace company. BAe has emerged as a front runner to take a shareholding, but any link is tied more to the prospects of military deals with Brazil, rather than strategic regional airliner production issues. Despite a hugely successful year in sales terms, Embraer has been hurt by the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) recent upholding of its decision diat Brazil's Proex export support pro gramme illegally subsidises Embraer regional jet sales. The WTO's appellate body also upheld a ruling that the Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) fund illegally subsidised Bombardier's regional aircraft programmes - but nevertheless, the Canadian manufacturer seems to have scored a victor)' in the long-running dispute, with the $4.5 billion in Proex commitments made by Embraer to customers eclipsing the $100 million in TPC funding having been pro vided for its Dash 8-400 and CRJ-700 pro grammes. Wth new regional jet programmes emerging from both sides of the Atlantic, General Electric has emerged as the dominant powerplant sup plier. The US manufacturer's CF34 turbofan has been selected as the sole powerplant for both the 728JET and RJ-170/190 families. The engine already powers the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet Series 100/200 and 700. Bombardier has advanced development of the BRJ-X but is not expected to make a launch deci sion until early next year. European consortium ATR, meanwhile, has been increasingly marginalised since the failure of partnership talks with Fairchild and Embraer, and it now admits it is unlikely to be delivering its proposed Airjet family until at least 2005. 44 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 25 - 31 August 1999
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