The RAA provides great data on the US regional airline industry. We took a look at the fleet breakdown and created this chart.
It is amazing that the 50-seat regional jet accounts for 59% of operations. Note that turboprops account for only 15%. The balance comes from the newer, larger regional jets.
Given the price of fuel and changing economics for regional airlines, we expect this chart to see radical change over the next five years. We are not alone in this view.
There are some interesting issues to come in the future as a result of the massive growth in regional jet ops. Consider for example the future market for such a vast quantity of this type of aircraft once the original operators renew their fleets. There has to be a question over whether there will be sufficient demand in the future secondary market and this has key issues for investors from the perspective of future residual values. I make this point because of one key fact which is not reflected by the pie chart in this article: distribution of aircraft amongst airlines: If the North American commercial regional jet market consists of around 2000 aircraft, the top four operators are operating well over half of the aircraft – where will all these aircraft go when these four operators move them out of the fleet and replace them with new? In case anyone is checking the facts, SkyWest USA has around 319 (CRJ/EMB), American Eagle approx 304 a/c (CRJ/ERJ/340), ExpressJet 242 (CRJ/ERJ) and Pinnacle around 200 (CRJ). Note also that SkyWest has options for more than 200 additional aircraft.
It would be interesting to see a chart comparing type of airplane by acquisition date. (that is, you would prove a definite trend…)