The regional aviation segment of the airline industry—which focuses on short-haul flights, uses smaller aircraft, and often services less-trafficked routes—encompasses about 6,000 aircraft in operation, with roughly 40 percent of these located in North America, 23 percent in Asia–Pacific, and 20 percent in Europe. Regional aviation accounts for about 9.3 million flights per year, and its roughly one-quarter share of the global commercial aircraft fleet provides about 11 percent of total commercial aviation seats. Prevalence of regional routes varies by geography (Exhibit 1).
Despite its global importance, regional aviation has not experienced the same dynamic postpandemic recovery as other parts of the aviation industry. The segment is not always well understood, and there are disagreements about its potential for further recovery and future growth.
In this article, we examine ten commonly held opinions about regional aviation. Drawing on detailed data analysis and interviews with industry executives, we aim to debunk myths, add to general understanding, and inform stakeholders about significant developments and uncertainties within the sector.
Myth one: Regional aviation is a homogeneous segment
Reality: The segment is diverse in terms of aircraft types, missions, and operator uses
Regional aviation is a remarkably heterogeneous sector. For instance, it relies on a variety of aircraft types, which can be grouped into several distinct categories. At the smaller end of the spectrum are turboprops holding fewer than 50 seats, typically used for shorter and lower-demand routes. Larger turboprops, with more than 50 seats, provide greater capacity and range. Regional jets can be divided into three main classes: small regional jets (about 48 seats on average), intermediate regional jets (about 74 seats on average), and large regional jets (about 108 seats on average). In addition, a new generation of small narrowbody aircraft (examples include the Airbus A220 and the Embraer E195-E2) has emerged. These models extend the mission profile traditionally served by regional jets, offering improved efficiency, greater range, and more passenger comfort, and thereby expanding the potential role of regional aircraft in airline networks.
With regard to missions, regional aviation can serve a wide range of roles. For instance, smaller aircraft can service less trafficked routes, either connecting to a hub as feeders or providing the foundation of a point-to-point, regional operation. The smaller gauge of these aircraft allows for more frequent service to small markets when compared with larger aircraft—enabling a more robust schedule and improved connectivity—because airlines can spread demand across more departures while maintaining stable load factors. Regional aircraft are also less expensive to operate, with lower costs per trip compared with larger narrowbody aircraft, translating into better economics for lower-traffic markets with limited demand. What’s more, regional aircraft service can provide vital access to remote locations—flying what are typically referred to as Public Service Obligations (PSO) routes. Finally, because smaller aircraft need less runway length, they are sometimes better suited for flying in and out of constrained airports (including inner-city airfields with tightly bounded footprints, such as London City Airport).
Regional aircraft are popular with a variety of operator types:
- Network airlines use regional aircraft to enable hub feeding from secondary cities, and to provide service on thinner short-haul routes outside larger hubs.
- Point-to-point specialists, such as independent regional airlines, often stock their fleets with smaller aircraft. Some might sign franchise agreements with larger airlines to benefit from their better-known brands and wider reach.
- Contract carriers operating regional flights on behalf of other airlines—using a capacity purchase agreement (CPA) in which the CPA carrier does not assume commercial risk—often rely on smaller aircraft. In many cases, crew contractual provisions called “scope clauses” set boundaries on the types of aircraft, routes, and crew that can be included under these agreements.
- Airline operators flying PSO routes (which are typically subsidized by governments) often use smaller aircraft to service remote or underserved regions where demand would not sustain a purely commercial route.
Myth two: Regional aviation’s postpandemic recovery has been uniformly sluggish
Reality: Certain subsegments, such as small narrowbodies, have had stronger recoveries than others
Global aviation has, in aggregate, fully recovered to prepandemic capacity levels. Regional aviation has, as a whole, lagged a bit behind. There is nuance, however, within regional aviation subsegments.
Regional service using small narrowbodies has fully recovered (with 19 percent more flights in 2025 than in 2019)—possibly as a result of the versatility and positive unit economics that these newer platforms can provide for carriers. Service using large and intermediate regional jets is inching toward prepandemic levels (still down 11 percent and 6 percent, respectively, when compared with 2019). But service using smaller regional aircraft and turboprops has experienced a much slower recovery—lagging significantly behind 2019 levels in total number of flights (Exhibit 2). Pilot shortages, aging fleets, and limited manufacturer investment may have all played a role in these results.
The precise shape of recovery varies by region. In North America and Europe, smaller regional jets and turboprops make fewer flights than they did in 2019, but during the same time frame, small narrowbody flights are up 63 percent in North America and 27 percent in Europe. Growth in Asia–Pacific and Central and Latin America has been limited to narrowbodies. Africa is the only region in which the segment has fully recovered across all aircraft types.
Myth three: Most regional city pairs are adequately served
Reality: Even within mature markets, there are significant opportunities for expansion
About 85 percent of regional aircraft services operate on routes shorter than 1,000 kilometers. From 2005 until the onset of the pandemic, the number of such routes steadily increased across most regions. Since the pandemic, however, this growth has stalled, with many regions flattening or even reversing the trend (Exhibit 3).
Some routes may have lost travelers to other modes of transportation, such as rail. Rising airport charges, or taxes, may have also played a part. (Looking at the three largest airports in each country, airline charges rose 67 percent from 2019 to 2025 in Germany, 35 percent in France, and 12 percent in the United Kingdom.) Whatever the cause, the drop in connectivity in some markets is striking. The German domestic route count is at just 38 percent of what it was 20 years ago.
In some regions, low connectivity could present opportunities. Underserved markets are not always easy to identify, but a simple proxy could be to look for city pairs where there is connecting traffic but no nonstop service (Exhibit 4). Many such markets show up in each region. While the majority of these are thin markets with fewer than ten daily passengers each way, some have more substantial traffic.
Our analysis indicates that there are still significant opportunities to directly connect underserved domestic European or intra-European city pairs that offer sufficient demand—particularly in places where low-cost airlines are absent and rail infrastructure falls short in terms of either capacity or quality. The individual business cases, however, depend on achievable ticket prices and associated costs (such as airport fees).
Myth four: Network carriers benefit from up-gauging their short-haul operations to improve economics
Reality: Using smaller-gauged regional aircraft on feeder routes can improve yield and offer other advantages
For larger airlines, regional and short-haul connections are essential to feed long-haul operations—bringing in the passengers that fill those widebody intercontinental aircraft. Using aircraft with larger capacity (a practice often described as “up-gauging”) on feeder routes can help network airlines capture economies of scale and lower the cost per available seat kilometer (CASK).
But on those short-haul routes, network carriers face intense competition from alternatives such as low-cost airlines, rail connections, and highways. The use of large feeder aircraft can result in too many empty seats if there is insufficient demand for regular connections. To fill these larger feeder aircraft, ticket prices for the “back of the plane” are often reduced.
This creates significant pressure on margins and can produce unwanted behavior: Some passengers will take advantage of those low fares to connect domestically through larger hubs instead of flying nonstop. This can lead to an increase in low-yielding, short-haul-to-short-haul connections. The resulting additional passengers at larger hubs can also overload airport operations and exacerbate the challenges of delays and operational irregularities. The larger the gauges of the aircraft in the feeding network, the more intense these effects can become.
Using smaller-gauge aircraft could provide a few different advantages for network airlines. Regional aircraft can be used to provide direct, point-to-point connections, addressing customer needs while easing pressure on congested hubs. Smaller aircraft can also help optimize capacity and yields for feeder flights into hubs, especially on lower-demand routes. Lastly, smaller aircraft can allow network carriers to operate in markets where there are infrastructure limitations (such as short runways) or economic challenges (resulting in fewer travelers who can afford to fly).
Myth five: Regional aircraft have an inherent cost disadvantage versus narrowbody aircraft
Reality: Newer regional jets have shrunk the gap in unit costs, while maintaining lower costs per trip
Smaller aircraft have fewer seats, but some costs—such as landing fees, fuel consumption, and pilot salaries—don’t reduce proportionally in line with aircraft capacity. The pilot of an aircraft with 200 seats isn’t paid 2.5 times more than the pilot of an aircraft with 80 seats.
New-generation regional jets and small narrowbody aircraft deliver about 3 percent lower CASK compared with older standard narrowbody models, but they have a roughly 16 percent disadvantage relative to the latest-generation standard narrowbodies. Despite this, new-generation regional jets and small narrowbody aircraft could remain a better choice for less-trafficked city pairs, as their per-flight operating costs are nearly 50 percent lower than those of newer standard narrowbodies.
The implication of closing per-seat cost gaps is that regional aircraft might be deployed more flexibly. They could potentially be used to increase the frequency of flights, or to connect additional city pairs, without creating an unacceptable increase in unit costs.
Myth six: Regional aircraft can’t compete with narrowbody aircraft when it comes to customer experience
Reality: Larger aircraft have some comfort advantages, but regional aviation also offers customer experience benefits
Larger aircraft typically offer roomier cabins, more washrooms, and quieter rides. Jets can also operate at higher altitudes that allow pilots to overfly bad weather, unlike turboprop aircraft that might need to take longer paths around weather or pass directly through turbulent air.
That said, an air traveler’s customer experience can be affected by many touchpoints along the journey—not just the flight itself. While larger aircraft often get preferable airport gate positions and can use more comfortable jet bridges, it’s also true that security, boarding, and deboarding can be faster and less chaotic at the smaller airports that are often frequented by regional aircraft.
Some newer turboprop aircraft also offer quieter and more comfortable rides. Nico Neumann, CEO of Deutsche Aircraft, says new technology allows turboprop aircraft to operate at up to 30,000 feet, with cabin insulation that reduces noise to 78 decibels—similar to cabin noise levels in regional jets. And despite the higher average age of regional aircraft, there can be opportunities to upgrade cabin interiors. American Airlines recently announced plans to retrofit some regional jets with in-seat power and satellite Wi-Fi, and to develop larger overhead bins.1
André Alves, network planning director at Iberia, says that the airline’s regional operations often achieve customer satisfaction levels that are comparable with narrowbody operations. He says smaller aircraft are preferred by some customers, who find it more comfortable to not have a middle seat and appreciate the shorter boarding and deboarding processes. Alves adds that regional operations can also excel at reliability and punctuality, which are among the major factors that determine customer satisfaction.
Myth seven: Regional operators are just as exposed to exogenous shocks and downturns as the rest of the aviation industry
Reality: Regional aviation as a whole is less vulnerable to industry volatility, though some regional airlines face elevated company- and region-specific risks
Regional aviation often experiences relatively limited volatility, reducing risk for shareholders. This is especially the case when regional carriers operate under CPA-type agreements.
Globally, 54 percent of regional aircraft are used to provide network connectivity for major network airline partners, often under CPA agreements. In these collaborations, the major airline partner sells tickets while the regional aviation company focuses on operations. The regional operator earns revenue based on block hours flown or completed flights (often using a cost-plus arrangement) instead of tickets sold, so the commercial risk is transferred to the network airline.
Because of factors such as these, profit variability among CPA operators is significantly reduced, and profit variability for regional operators as a whole appears lower compared with the broader commercial airline sector (Exhibit 5).
Volatility can also be limited on PSO routes (such as those providing connectivity to remote areas) that a government deems essential and thus chooses to subsidize. About 23 percent of regional aircraft serve these routes. Because demand is tied to political priorities instead of fluctuating passenger traffic, these services are less affected by economic downturns or changes in the route’s market profitability.
While CPAs can provide stability and reduce risk, they can also limit profitability. And despite lower overall volatility—driven largely by CPA agreements—the smaller size of regional operators, and the region-specific risks they face, mean that the chances of volatile financial performance, bankruptcies, bailouts, and M&A activity increase. Exogenous shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can significantly disrupt the regional aviation landscape, just as they disrupt other aviation segments. Smaller fleets and a narrower network can result in considerable company- or region-specific risks, given that there are fewer options to redeploy capacity to capture better returns than there would be in a more global network. What’s more, regional operators aren’t able to hedge returns by leaning on more profitable long-haul operations. No model is perfect, but regional aviation could benefit from new thinking about its commercial and operational approaches.
Myth eight: Shifting regulations and consumer sentiment regarding sustainability will create significant hurdles for regional flying
Reality: Regional aviation can lead the way in sustainable flying
Sustainability is an important issue for aviation stakeholders. Regulatory requirements, customer demand, and corporate commitments to decarbonization could all push regional aviation companies to prioritize sustainability in their long-term business models.
Several factors contribute to regional aviation’s environmental impact. For one, carbon emissions are proportional to jet fuel consumption: Given that smaller aircraft consume more fuel per seat, it follows that their carbon emissions will be proportionally higher than those of larger aircraft. On the other hand, conventional turboprop aircraft typically operate at 8,000 meters or below, an altitude at which the formation of contrails—which can contribute to global warming—is minimized.
New-generation small narrowbody aircraft burn, depending on the mission, approximately 15 percent less fuel per available seat kilometer versus previous-generation standard narrowbodies that are still widely in service, thus producing lower emissions. New-generation standard narrowbodies are more efficient on a per-seat basis (because they contain more seats), with approximately 4 to 7 percent lower fuel burn per available seat kilometer versus new-generation regional jets and small narrowbody aircraft. But on a per-trip basis, newer-generation standard narrowbodies burn 3 to 6 percent more fuel than newer-generation small narrowbodies and regional jets. Because smaller aircraft are easier to fill with passengers, changes can be amplified by higher load factors.
Regardless of how regional aviation’s environmental impact is measured, many feel that the segment can become a lighthouse for sustainable flying. Maarten Koopmans, managing director of KLM Cityhopper—a regional subsidiary airline of KLM—projects that new technologies (such as alternative powertrains) and fuels (such as sustainable aviation fuel) could first reach scale in regional aviation. It’s worth noting that using a fuel mix that includes 10 percent or 20 percent sustainable aviation fuel on a short-haul flight incurs a premium that can be less than $10 per passenger—much lower than the premium on long-haul flights.
Myth nine: Regional aviation is a driver of innovation
Reality: There is much opportunity for innovation with smaller aircraft—including using new propulsion technology—but the sector could benefit from bolder experimentation
At an average age of approximately 17 years, the regional passenger aircraft fleet (including turboprops, regional jets, and smaller narrowbodies) is significantly older than fleets in other aircraft categories. Standard narrowbodies are on average 11 years old. The average age of widebodies is 12 years.
The regional aviation sector is due for new aircraft—ideally, powered by innovative technology. Hybrid-electric, battery-electric, or even hydrogen-fuel-cell powered engines could help address rising concerns about sustainability and decarbonization (in the same way that electric and hybrid powertrains have helped decarbonize the automotive sector). The aircraft manufacturer ATR has announced plans to complete the first flight of a hybrid-electric regional aircraft by 2030. Other major OEMs have shared plans to introduce alternative powertrains, but exactly when these new platforms will take flight remains unclear.
Longer aviation innovation cycles can result from the intense effort and high costs involved in securing certification for a new model. These costs can reach $300 million to $500 million for small aircraft with 19 or fewer seats; for larger aircraft, the certification costs can easily be ten times more. Because smaller aircraft are less expensive to get certified and have lower energy needs (they weigh less even when full of passengers and generally travel shorter distances), regional aviation is well positioned to become the segment in which alternative propulsion first reaches scale. Regional aviation can seek to identify and capture demand opportunities that will enable more innovation.
It's important to note that innovation can also be applied to business models. The US charter airline JSX operates smaller-gauge regional aircraft in North America and advertises “private air travel, booked by the seat, at attainable fares.” As a public charter operator, JSX benefits from less onerous security screening standards and can use general aviation terminals, with check-ins as late as 20 minutes before departure. The focus on streamlined processes and elevated customer experience includes hangar-to-hangar satellite Wi-Fi, low-density seating, and complimentary snacks and drinks.
Myth ten: eVTOL and electric regional aircraft could replace traditional regional aviation
Reality: eVTOL air taxis are more likely to disrupt conventional helicopter and high-end road mobility services, and electric regional aircraft still need to prove their applicability
The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft segment has attracted about $16.5 billion of investment since 2018. Multiple eVTOL vehicles now in development could potentially offer safe, quiet, convenient, and sustainable air taxi service.
The battery capacity technology of today’s eVTOLs limits their payloads to about four passengers, and they can only carry those passengers for relatively short distances. These limitations mean that, in the near term, eVTOLs are unlikely to challenge regional aviation. Instead, eVTOLs are more likely to disrupt conventional helicopter service and high-end road mobility services (such as luxury buses or black-car SUVs).
Electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) aircraft could potentially address demand for short hops from smaller regional airports. Lower-demand, point-to-point connections between regional airfields that are unprofitable using turboprop aircraft today could become viable with the lower CASK figures promised by future eCTOL aircraft. The lower price of electricity compared with fuel and the reduced maintenance costs for electric powertrains could enable cost savings for the operator, similar to the operating cost savings of electric vehicles versus internal combustion engine vehicles. McKinsey research indicates the market for flights that could be suited for eCTOLs could exceed $100 billion by 2035.
However, eCTOLs’ range and payload will be limited, their offer competes with rail in many locations, and eCTOL technology still needs to prove its readiness for adverse weather and winter operations.
Regional aviation plays a critical strategic role within the airline industry. Regional aircraft are indispensable for providing connectivity, flexibility, and cost-effective solutions in thinner markets, while also alleviating congestion at major hubs. Although the pace of regional aviation’s recovery has varied across regions and subsegments, advancements in technology, evolving business models, and shifting network strategies could help to secure the enduring importance of regional aviation within the broader ecosystem.
For stakeholders across the value chain, opportunities are significant. Operators can harness regional fleets to strengthen network reach and profitability. OEMs can tap into growth in emerging markets and next-generation platforms. Lessors can unlock value through strategic life cycle management. As the industry faces mounting sustainability demands, regional aviation is uniquely positioned to serve as a proving ground for alternative fuels and propulsion technologies. Far from being a peripheral player, the sector is poised to be at the center of adaptation and innovation—while continuing to improve reliability and customer experience to meet travelers’ ever rising expectations.
