A couple points:
1) I find QX's Q200's and Q400's much preferable to RJ's on other carriers.
2) People don't seem to have a huge preference between the two in my experience. I think to someone that doesn't want to fly on a "small plane", a turboprop or a regional jet will be essentially the same in their eyes.
StuckInCA From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1782 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2120 times:
Thanks for the link. I love the Q400 and QX. Even the Q200 is great. I much prefer a flight on the Q200 over either a CRJ or an ERJ.
AS739X From United States of America, joined Apr 2003, 5821 posts, RR: 23 Reply 2, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2043 times:
Boy, I thought it was well written article till he didn't do their research.
"where business isn’t profitable for Alaska to use 120-seat Boeing 737-300s." We have 733?
ASLAX
"Some pilots avoid storm cells and some play connect the dots!"
DFORCE1 From Canada, joined Jul 2005, 477 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 1966 times:
I fully agree with Horizon. I wish more airlines would get behind Turboprops. I really love the Q400. I would hope that Air Canada Jazz would be next to place a major order. I think that's what they need to get the ball rolling for the Q400 program and hopefully get other carriers to pay attention.
What do you think would be a reasonable maximum flight length for a Q400? I mean obviously they have their maximum rangem but for example, would it be practical on a route such as YVR to Whitehorse? Basically - is it practical to use a Q400 on let's say a 2.5 hour max flight where yields aren't that high as opposed to a regional jet?
IRelayer From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 1071 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 1928 times:
Quoting DFORCE1 (Reply 3): What do you think would be a reasonable maximum flight length for a Q400? I mean obviously they have their maximum rangem but for example, would it be practical on a route such as YVR to Whitehorse? Basically - is it practical to use a Q400 on let's say a 2.5 hour max flight where yields aren't that high as opposed to a regional jet?
The Q400's cruise speed (370 IIRC? vs ~420-~440 for an RJ?) basically negates (or so Bombardier claims) an RJ's speed advantage on short sectors (1 hour max, give or take 20 minutes). So the attraction of the Q400 lies in its ability to carry more people (seats 74) for a lot less fuel in about the same time on most "regional routes". Even 2 hours would be pushing it and the Q400 would best be used elsewhere. An RJ is more suited to long thin routes.
Plus, Bombardier touts its cabin comfort and active cabin noise supression system as huge selling points. They are basically marketing it as a high-capacity regional airliner that performs like an RJ, sounds like an RJ, and is more comfortable than an RJ, but doesn't have the RJ's high operating costs. I think they have marketed it extremely well in this respect, unfortunately they haven't gotten that many orders for it.
My perfect fleet mix, if I were starting from scratch, for a regional operation would be the following:
ATR-42-500's or Q200's (40-50 seats) for the short hops
Q400's (74-80 seats) for all medium capacity routes under 1 hour.
ERJ-145LR's (45-55 seats) for long thin routes between 1.5 and 3 hours
ERJ-175's (80 seats) for all medium capacity routes over 1 hour
Blackhawk144 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 5, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 1906 times:
Is there any chance of QX ordering any more CRJ's or Bombardier aircraft?? I would assume so if they plan on expanding F9 Express, or if they want to fly on longer distance routes.
Hawaiian717 From United States of America, joined May 1999, 3092 posts, RR: 8 Reply 6, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 1813 times:
Quoting Blackhawk144 (Reply 5): Is there any chance of QX ordering any more CRJ's or Bombardier aircraft??
RTFA.
More CRJ's aren't likely, as they just changed a bunch of CRJ-700s to Q400s. If anything, I'd expect further orders to be for additional Q400s.
Web From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 424 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 1639 times:
Yes; 20 options. "SeaTac-based regional airline Horizon Air canceled commitments last month for new regional jets and substituted orders for 12 more Bombardier Q-400 turboprops. It also took options on 20 more of the 74-seat propjets." (From the article)
Texan From New Zealand, joined Dec 2003, 4204 posts, RR: 53 Reply 9, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 1621 times:
Quoting DFORCE1 (Reply 3): What do you think would be a reasonable maximum flight length for a Q400? I mean obviously they have their maximum rangem but for example, would it be practical on a route such as YVR to Whitehorse? Basically - is it practical to use a Q400 on let's say a 2.5 hour max flight where yields aren't that high as opposed to a regional jet?
The Q400 pretty much negates the RJ advantage on stage lengths up to 400 miles. On stages longer than 400 miles, the flight will take longer on the Q400, however there can still be cash savings to operating the Q instead of an RJ on longer stage routes, up to 600 or 700 miles. QX's longest Q400 route, that I know of, is SUN-LAX, a distance of 604.9 nm. It could be used on solid regional routes with considerable cost advantages to current planes.
Texan
"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library."
AS739X From United States of America, joined Apr 2003, 5821 posts, RR: 23 Reply 11, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1438 times:
Dforce1: 12 new Q400 w/ options for 20.I will look up the stage length when I get to work later. But we use them on LAX-BOI which is just about the same length.
ASLAX
"Some pilots avoid storm cells and some play connect the dots!"
N1120A From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 25852 posts, RR: 79 Reply 12, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 1410 times:
Quoting IRelayer (Reply 4): Even 2 hours would be pushing it and the Q400 would best be used elsewhere.
Actually, up to 2 hours and the Q400 competes very well with RJs
Quoting DFORCE1 (Reply 10): What is SUN and how long is the duration of the flight?
SUN is Sun Valley, Utah, a very nice ski resort that is popular with Southern Californians, particularly movie stars. Flight time is about 2 hours.
Mangeons les French fries, mais surtout pratiquons avec fierte le French kiss
Airline7322 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 105 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days ago) and read 1373 times:
N1120A- as a frequent visitor to Sun Valley, I'm afraid I have to correct you on one point in your latest post (post 12). Sun Valley is actually located in Idaho, not Utah. But you're entirely correct about it being extremely popular with Southern Californians and movie stars.
"Good ideas must be driven into practice with courageous patience."
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