Regional Aircraft Orders and Nigerian Operators

(article written May 2008)


Recently the aviation industry was awash with new aircraft orders, which was spearheaded by Arik then Virgin Nigeria. These orders have gladdens the heart of the traveling public and participants in the industry. It is coming twenty three years after the liquidated national carrier (WT) celebrated the arrival of four brand new A 310 jet aircrafts.
This article will deal principally with weighing the differences, similarities and advantages of the jet and turboprops regional aircrafts with reference to those ordered by Nigerian operators.

Regional Aircraft Manufacturers; Avions de Transport Regional (ATR): is a Franco-Italian and the only surviving Europe based regional aircraft manufacturer. The company produces ATR 42 & 72 series turbo-prop aircrafts and recently unveiled the new -600 series of ATR 42 & 72.The -600 will come with new engines with the ability to rotate the aircraft at a lower speed, which contributes to short take-off distance, also coming with the aircraft is a new avionics suite, an additional takeoff weight and improved cabin comfort with LED technology. It will be an improvement to its -500 series which is in the market at the moment. Overland Airways have an ATR on the Ibadan – Abuja route.

Bombardier: this Canadian regional aircraft manufacturer is the only aircraft manufacturer in the world with foot in turbo-prop and jet engine production. It is advantageous, has they have been able to cope with the capacity swing in aircraft demand, though with a perpetual brick bat with Embraer over subsidy. The Q series also known as Dash 8 (-100 to -500) are turboprops, of late the Q400 production increased over the last two years in contrast to the bombardier’s regional jets. The Q400 boasts of greater fuel efficiency on shorter range compared to the jets. Arik and Aero are operators of the Q series family with Arik ordering three brand new Q400 aircrafts.

Also Bombardier produces jet aircraft with the acronym CRJ’s and also have a proud business jet line made up of Lear jets and Challengers .the CRJ’s are from the first generation -100 to the present -900 with a capacity ranging between 30 to 90 seats. Arik air is an operator of the CRJ 200, though leased from EDC.

For the future Bombardier is working on a stretched Q400 dubbed Q400X which should carry 90 passengers compared to the present 74-78 derivative. The company will also offer CRJ 1000 which will accommodate between 100 and 120 seats. They are gradually creeping into the mid-size family of B717 and A319.

Embraer: is a Brazilian company that presently manufactures jet aircrafts only. These jets are referred to as the E-jets. The family is made up of the E145, E170, E175, E190 and E195.Embraer started as a turbo prop manufacturer with aircrafts such EMB 110 and the very popular EMB 120 the bride of African turbo-prop operators. EMB 120 is being operated by three airlines in Nigeria, namely Capital, Associated and Wings Airline, while IRS airline operates the E145 jet. Embraer also produces business jets one of which is the Phenom 100, for the commercial jets, emphasis is on range and payload which necessitated the production of variants as E 170LR(long range), E175AR (advance range). Virgin Nigeria has made the largest order by Nigerian standard for two variant of the E jet family (E170, E190), the total order being 24 jets.

Sukhoi Super Jet (SSJ): this is a Russian made regional jet with partnership with the some western countries. It is a clear departure from the past where the civil aviation in Russia was weaved in a security cocoon, when you compare this aircraft with other Russian aircraft made during that era, such as the Antonovs and Topolevs. The variants of the new SSJ will seat between 75 to 95 passengers.
The aircraft will be ready by the end of the year and service entry is early 2009, considering the multinational partnership in the programme, domestic operators can have a look and see what the marketing department is offering. I can boldly say it will not be another “Ajaokuta Steel” as spares and maintenance facilities will be readily available at the touch of a button.

ARJ 21and MA 60: these are Chinese made regional aircrafts awaiting certification. the MA60 &70 manufactured by Xian Aircraft, as the name suggest are 60 and 70 seater turboprop aircrafts respectively that will be available for commercial service before the end of 2008, while ARJ21-700 and -900 should seat 90 and 105 passengers respectively. The aircraft is manufactured in China by ARNIC, test flight will start sometime later this year while entry into service is sometime in 2009.the Chinese are participants in rail and road transportation in Nigeria, I will not be surprised if they appear in the air transport industry using their familiar low price and soft loans, which will be possible after it must have been certified by the regulatory authorities before entry into service, here I mean JAA, FAA, if the aircraft must come to Nigeria then, the NCAA.

Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ): these are Japanese made regional aircrafts manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and strongly backed by the Japanese government. The recently launched aircraft with commercial service slated for the last quarter of 2009, will have engines supplied by Pratt &Whitney, with composite parts from Boeing. They are to seat between 70- 96 passengers.
Has expected ANA a strong player in the Japanese air transport industry has made a major order. Will Nigerian operators follow suit? That I can’t answer for now but it is widely known here that Japanese products can be trusted but their price is another story entirely.

For the records there are other regional aircrafts manufacturers that have stopped production but have made their products available in the used (Tokunbo) market. We have the Saabs, Dorniers, Avros, Jetstreams, Fokkers and Beechcrafts. As at today only the Beechcraft 1900 is being flown by Nigerian operators, namely overland and wings aviation. Sadly wings aviation recently lost its Beechcraft 1900 en-route Obudu airstrip.

Turboprops: The revival in fortunes of the turboprop industry that began in 2005 shows no sign of losing altitude. Turboprop services grew by 8% in 2005, driven largely by soaring fuel prices that are rendering regional jets of comparative size increasingly uneconomical. Since 2005, turboprops have enjoyed resurgence; Turboprop production increased by over 50% in 2007 and broke the 100 aircraft threshold for the first time since 2000 (when there were five suppliers), accounting for more than a third of total regional airliner shipments. ATR and Bombardier are the only surviving turboprop manufacturers and are enjoying the renaissance of their propeller-driven airliners as demand for small jets collapses. ATR is Europe’s sole remaining turboprop airliner manufacturer, while china as enunciated earlier is developing a 60 seater turboprop with the acronym MA60.

The persistent increase in fuel prices have finally brought the 10-year reign of the small regional jet to a sudden halt, while 30 to 70-seat jets built by Bombardier and Embraer slumped. Both manufacturers have virtually ceased 50-seat jet production, leaving the 30- to 70-seat band to the turboprops. As demand shifts from small jets. Bombardier has benefited from its strategy of keeping a foot in both camps with orders for Q Series turboprops providing an effective counterbalance to the raft of CRJ200 cancellations.

The strongest signs yet of a revival of the turboprop and an affirmation of its preference over the jets in the 30-70 seat capacity in the USA, was recently at the Regional Airline Association’s (RAA) annual conference in Dallas, Texas, when it emerged that Continental Airlines has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for 24 new 70-seat turboprops. According to industry sources, the airline’s RFP specifies that 12 turboprops will operate from Continental’s Newark hub and an equal number from the carrier’s Houston hub. Both airports will lose capacity under a new feeder deal with its regional associate Express-Jet, which will take 69 Embraer ERJ-145 out of its current 274-strong regional jet fleet. Continental was among the pioneers in the USA to move to an all-jet regional fleet, phasing out its ATR and Embraer turboprops in favour of ERJ-145s. However, more recently the airline has begun to re-introduce some turboprop feeder services through contracts with Colgan Air, Gulfstream International and Regions Air.


Jets: The regional jet net order tally has dramatically reduced for the 50 seat below jets. The large-scale order cancellations for Bombardier’s 50-seat CRJ200 and Embraer’s 37 to 50 seat ERJ 135,145 families also suffered, with its order book declining, so it is no surprise that production of the CRJ200 has been suspended while output of the ERJ has been significantly curtailed. The fall of smaller jets to props is simply due to better fuel performance on the short sectors considering the time difference between them on such sectors isn’t too significant. It is a different story with the larger regional jets which continue to receive orders and modifications from manufacturers with improved payload, cabin comfort and range. They are being stretched to a regional limit. Examples of such are the CRJ 900, 1000 and ERJ 195 ER that take over a 100 passengers


Challenges: Regional aircrafts have challenges to contend with, such as acceptability by corporate and business class passengers especially in the middle East where demand is restricted to oil servicing companies, Jordanian national carrier (Royal Jordanian) had to return the turboprops in their fleet to Bombadier quoting a spokesperson of the airline, "We were satisfied with the operational performance of the [Q400] but passenger acceptance for a turboprop remains difficult in the Middle East, so we did not renew the two-year lease agreement we had with Bombardier," he said, noting that passengers in the region are increasingly used to Gulf carriers who deploy large jets, even wide-bodied, on short sectors.

It’s the same down here except on routes such as Lagos-Benin; Akure-Abuja, it is a marketing nightmare to put props on Lagos-Abuja or Lagos Port-Harcourt (excluding the period PH international airports was closed) as passengers easily opt for jets. Other challenges are the recent landing gear problems associated with Q400 of late, which led to its momentary grounding by airlines and aviation authorities around the world,(here again NCAA was silent or was it a case of diplomatic regulations).

Another challenge is the recent order by the management of JFK airport to ban the operations of turboprops and jets that carry less than 60 passengers, which is to reduce congestions and delays. Similar subtle bans are common at busy international gateways such as Heathrow, CDG, Hartfield e.t.c, where slot allocation during peak period is very difficult for operators with aircrafts that seat below a 100 passengers.

Also, recent accidents and incidents in the industry worldwide have called to question the safety level of regional aircraft operators. Safety inspectors and regulators are accused of placing much emphasis on legacy or mega carriers to the detriment of regionals, also pilots at the regional are accused of not complying with safety regulations. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is presently investigating reports on regional operators and pilot compliance to safety regulations.

We are lucky not be bogged down with the ‘Scope Clause’ challenges, like they have in the USA. The “scope clause” limits the capacity and range the aircrafts can operate based on agreements with the pilot unions.


Conclusively: Nearly half of the total African airline fleet is regional aircraft but only 10 percent, or 64 aircraft, are regional jets. However, this figure has increased from only three percent of the fleet total twelve months ago. This also applies to developing routes, often found in Africa, where additional frequencies are required to stimulate traffic and consequently economic growth. Airlines should know that using the right aircraft reduces the incidence of delay and flight cancellations. It most importantly improves traffic and increases frequency, operators should look at the options and offers from these manufacturers in taking fleet renewal decisions.