Best Regional Plane

[Monk Xion]

Hey all,

I feel a lil noobish for asking this ( I havent played in about 1.5 yrs).

Im just wondering what you guys think the best regional planes are. I remember the Dash 8's being great but they were the only ones ive played with.

Well discuss away 

[pascaly]

I prefer the Fokker early, then the ATRs. I know people go on about the speed of the Dash, but the shorter turn around time on the Fokker on short sector in many cases makes up for it.

The only problem with the Fokkers is their small capacity, this can have an impact later in the game but I always find, thanks to the frequency fairy, that adding a second aircraft is often worth it anyway.

Smaller queues also tip in the Fokkers favour.

Plus, it's more fun to say! 

[swiftus27]

For AWS:

The F.27 is the worlds first dominant regional turboprop.    It evolves into the Fokker 50 which is a good plane but not as profitable as its predecessor.

The Dash 8 Q400 is the Dash 8 to have.  It is made by Bombardier and not De Havilliand.  It is much faster than the previous models.  Unlike the Fokker, the early Dash 8s are just okay while the 'Q' is amazing.

Embraer gets strong with some of its second generation planes.  Pretty much the same thing at Bombardier for RJs.  CRJ1s are a fast routeto bankruptcy.  These early planes need to be flying 5+ routes per day to have a chance. 

Sometimes you need to fly something a bit larger than 50-70 pax....  This is where the A318 can actually do you some good.  I have experimented with flying them in a premium setting with heavy frequency and easily out muscled LF due to the amount of flights I could drop on a route.   

[ramsterdambo]

I really like the Saab 2000. Highly efficient per pax/mile, short queues, short turnarounds, and good range. Before it comes out, I like the HS 748, which keeps getting improved until they turn it into the ATP, which is an excellent plane and nice and cheap. The queue for it is also always short.

As for jets, I really like the Fokker 70/100 family, and later on the Sukhoi Superjet. Before the F70/F100, get a European RJ like a BAC 1-11 or F28 Fellowship. Something efficient, proved in real life, and built west of the Iron Curtain.

The main thing about a regional plane is that it must be efficient and shouldn't cost too much to lease. In that respect, the A318 scares me off as it costs almost as much as an A319 for a lot fewer seat. It is useful that it's in  such a large family of airliners though. However, I only ever get Airbuses after starting 110-180 seat routes with 737s as the much higher leases for Airbuses and longer production queue means you're screwed if you get an Airbus or two early on and put them on the wrong route.

[vitongwangki]

The main thing about a regional plane is that it must be efficient and shouldn't cost too much to lease. In that respect, the A318 scares me off as it costs almost as much as an A319 for a lot fewer seat. It is useful that it's in  such a large family of airliners though. However, I only ever get Airbuses after starting 110-180 seat routes with 737s as the much higher leases for Airbuses and longer production queue means you're screwed if you get an Airbus or two early on and put them on the wrong route.

I agree, when the regional planes are in similar efficiency, then the leasing cost worth considering, A318 and B736 are too expensive to deal with unless you are also running A320s or B737NG respectively. There are a lot of good choice of regional planes, main concern would probably be the supply. 

[MattMarderosian]

I like the Boeing 717-200 

[Troxartas86]

In DoTM I successfully ran an all EMB-120 airline for a few years in Africa of all places. They can be surprisingly profitable if you own most of them. (I launched the ER series with six on direct purchase) I made enough money off them to pick up ten L-1011s and ultimately BK myself with way too many 737s on short leases.

I'm a big fan of flying 30-seater turboprops in the middle of nowhere.

[Monk Xion]

I like the Boeing 717-200 

I love the looks of the 717-200. The economics make me sad tho :s I've never tried it in game tho.

Is the 735 any good? Looking for a smaller mainline plane... I know the 737's are great in this game, while the Airbuses arent so much (Which is totally opposite from Airline Empires, where the A319/A319LR are king for SH there.)

Likin the responses. All my strategies are coming back to me now 

[RushmoreAir]

I love the looks of the 717-200. The economics make me sad tho :s I've never tried it in game tho.

Is the 735 any good? Looking for a smaller mainline plane... I know the 737's are great in this game, while the Airbuses arent so much (Which is totally opposite from Airline Empires, where the A319/A319LR are king for SH there.)

Likin the responses. All my strategies are coming back to me now 

I've used the 735 to much success on routes above 70 pax/day in DOTM.

[ekaneti]

Depends on the era I suppose.

Jet age is easy cuz fuel is cheap, but the Viscount is a huge money maker
Dawn of the Milennium probably ATR-72 and Saab 2000 (cant beat it for speed)
Modern Times Dash 8-400 plus ATR-72-500/600