Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

Design and economic challenges of 10}22 passenger,

jet-powered regional transports
Jan Roskam*
The University of Kansas, 1604 Bobwhite Drive, Lawrence, KS 66047, USA

Abstract
Regional transports in the 10}22 passenger category will be jet-powered in the near future. The rationale
for this predicted development is discussed in this paper. Based on operational and a!ordability factors the
desired mission requirements for these airplanes are determined. It is shown that the cost of these airplanes
must be kept under very tight control. One approach to achieving this is to develop a family of two airplanes,
a single fuselage 10-passenger airplane and a twin-fuselage 22-passenger airplane. These airplanes are to
have a large amount of commonality. Several design challenges and certi"cation issues are also discussed.  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Until recently, the regional transport market was dominated by turboprops. This has changed as
a result of the introduction of suitably small and e$cient turbofan engines. Regional transports in
the range of 35}70 passengers are now rapidly changing from turboprop to turbofan propulsion.
Airplanes such as the Bombardier RJ series and the EMB 135}145 type of airplanes were
responsible for this change. The Fairchild}Dornier 328Jet with 32 passengers is another example of
this trend. In the very near future this trend is predicted to continue down into the range of 10}22
passenger transport airplanes.
The introduction of 707/DC-8 type airplanes over the Atlantic in the early 1960s put commercial
passenger ships out of business. Because of the shorter travel time, greater travel comfort,
competitive cost and a high level of safety the long-range jet transport also greatly increased the

Presented at a meeting on `Advanced Design Problems in Aerospace Engineeringa, held in Erice, Sicily, Italy, July
11}18, 1999.
* Tel.: 001-785-832-0172; fax: 001-785-841-4810.

1369-8869/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 6 9 - 8 8 6 9 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 4 - 5

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J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

number of people who cross the Atlantic. In other words: there was a large, latent market demand
for trans-oceanic transportation which was "nally satis"ed by the large transport jets.
A similar situation occurred in the USA with the introduction of the medium range
727/737/DC-9 jets. These airplanes took over many routes which were previously dominated by
trains. Yet again, the jets served a latent market with as a result a large increase in the total number
of travellers.
An important lesson here is that market demand for travel is not static. With the correct mix of
speed, frequency of service, cost and safety markets have turned out to be much larger than
predicted. Southwest Airlines in the USA is an example of an airline which has capitalized on this
trend. The author believes that this same scenario will be played out with the introduction of small
passenger jets over short-to-medium ranges.
Many design and economic challenges which were overcome in the design of large and medium
commercial transports are very similar to those which have to be overcome in the design of smaller,
regional jet transports.
Several important factors in the design of regional transports are discussed. It is suggested that
these factors lead to a family approach in the design and development of such transports. One
possible con"guration design approach which satis"es this family and low cost requirement is also
discussed. Finally, there are several certi"cation issues to be resolved before the predicted development of small regional jet transports can occur.

2. Factors in regional transport design

The following factors are important in the design of small regional transports:
2.1. Block speed, utilization and productivity.
2.2. Passenger acceptance.
2.3. A!ordability and pro"tability.
2.1. Block-speed, utilization and productivity
The annual seat-mile productivity of any airplane is related to block speed and to utilization.
The blockspeed is always less than the cruise speed: by how much depends on the range #own and
on air tra$c control procedures encountered. For a typical 300 nm stage length in the USA the
block speed may be assumed to be 79% of the cruise speed.
For a given range and a given number of seats, the annual available seat-miles of an airplane
increase with increasing cruise speed and with increasing annual utilization. Fig. 1 illustrates this
trend for a typical 300 nm segment and for 19 seats per airplane.
Evidently, the e!ect of cruise speed and annual utilization on annual productivity is very
signi"cant. Whether or not an airplane can realistically be operated at a high annual utilization
depends on:
E turnaround time,
E block speed,

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

35

Fig. 1. E!ect of cruise speed and utilization on available seat-miles.

E
E
E
E

passenger frequency demand,

system reliability,
segment scheduling,
slot availability (problem at major hubs only).

An airplane designer can in#uence only the "rst three of these factors.
2.1.1. Turnaround time
Turnaround time can be shortened by the designer through the following considerations:
(a) loading and un-loading should be straightforward,
(b) servicing requirements should be kept to a minimum,
(c) re-fuelling should have to be done only infrequently and should be of the single point type.
Careful design attention needs to be paid to those turnaround items which are most demanding in
terms of time and human resources (cost).
2.1.2. System reliability
The designer should weigh the cost of inherent system reliability to that of redundancy. This
implies considering the cost and passenger nuisance e!ect of component failures on #ight cancellations and/or delays. Any system failure, critical to either the operation or the #ight safety of the
airplane, should be rare. Components of systems which have a known high frequency of failing
should be easily accessible and replaceable on the #ight line.
2.1.3. Block speed
High block speeds result in greater productivity. Improved aerodynamic design (low drag) and
greater thrust (or power) both result in higher cruise (or block) speed. However, designing for
higher speed does result in a heavier structure because of larger structural loads.
Fig. 2 shows the e!ect of block speed on the time saved relative to ground transportation.

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J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

Fig. 2. E!ect of block speed on trip time.

The block speed for ground transportation is assumed to be 50 sm/h. For air transportation a 1 h
penalty is assessed for ground time. Note that for block distances of 100 miles or less no signi"cant
time savings are attained by air transportation. It should be noted, that in mountainous terrain and
in areas with twisting two-lane roads, the ground transportation block speed may well be much less
than 50 sm/h. Therefore, in such cases air transportation would still show an advantage in time,
even for shorter block distances.
What Fig. 2 clearly demonstrates (by considering the shaded areas) is that for block distances of
150 statute miles or more there are signi"cant time advantages to #ying on regionals. What is also
clear is that greater block speeds are most advantageous over longer stage lengths. The three air
transportation lines in Fig. 2 are for 200, 400 and 600 sm/h, respectively. Apparently, very high

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

37

block speeds (600 sm/h) do not save a signi"cant amount of time relative to lower block speeds until
large block distances are #own.
However, block speeds of 400 sm/h save a lot of time compared to block speeds of 200 sm/h, even
for short block distances. This is important when considering regional jets over turboprops in the
short stage length market: their design cruise speed should be in excess of 400 sm/h.
Higher block speeds also a!ect the annual productivity of an airplane as seen in Fig. 1. More
importantly, on a daily basis, a su$ciently greater blockspeed may allow more segments to be
#own. This is illustrated in Fig. 3 with the following assumptions:
E 14 h daily duty time,
E 20 min for turnaround,
E 10 min for start-up, warm-up, taxi and takeo!.
It is seen that doubling the block speed results in a signi"cant change in the number of daily
segments which can be #own. If the route structure of a given airline allows this, the potential to #y
more segments per day can result in greater pro"tability. Observe that the number of segments
which can be #own per day improves more for shorter block distances than for longer ones. That is
important when considering small regional jets over turboprops.
For example, Fig. 3 shows that a typical regional jet can #y 2 more trips per day than
a turboprop when #ying a block distance of 400 sm.
2.2. Passenger acceptance
Four factors are important in terms of passenger acceptance of an airplane:
E
E
E
E

Schedule reliability,
Comfort,
Safety,
Cost.

2.2.1. Schedule reliability

Passengers insist on schedule reliability. Schedule reliability depends on dispatch reliability and
on tra$c delays encountered. In the jet era the dispatch reliability of a mature airplane approaches
99.8%. Regional jets should have similar dispatch reliability. To avoid tra$c delays hub airports
should be avoided. Tra$c delays can be avoided by directly connecting cities while by passing
hubs.
2.2.2. Comfort
The extent of passenger comfort depends on the quality of the following characteristics:
E
E
E
E
E
E

ride through turbulence,

cabin heating,
seat pitch and seat width,
noise level,
cabin pressurization,
lavatories,

38

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

Fig. 3. E!ect of block speed and block distance on productivity.

E vibration level,
E cabin air pollution (smoking).
The "rst three items are particularly important. It is in these areas where jets have a clear
advantage over turboprops.
2.2.3. Safety
Safety can be measured by many di!erent yardsticks.
From a passenger viewpoint the most meaningful yardstick is probably the number of fatalities
per million departures. Fig. 4 shows the safety picture for aviation in 1995. Statistically, regional

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

39

Fig. 4. Aviation safety in 1995.

transports (in 1995 mostly turboprops) do reasonably well even though their fatality rate is twice
that of the transport jets. This is one of the factors in the public perception of lower safety of
turboprops versus jets. Several icing accidents over the last ten years have exacerbated the
perception of safety in turboprops.
2.2.4. Cost
Passengers are always interested in low cost. See item 2.3, where a!ordability is discussed.
2.3. Awordability and proxtability
For a regional transport to sell it must be a!ordable and pro"table. A!ordability means that two
conditions have to be satis"ed:
(a) airplane market price (AMP) must be su$ciently low,
(b) the direct operating cost (DOC) per seat-mile or per hour must be competitive.
Whether or not a given size regional jet has a real place in the market depends on the pro"tability
and a!ordability it o!ers to the customer, the regional airline operator. One approach to
addressing this issue is to perform a value analysis as proposed by Norris [1]. Norris introduced
the so-called value factor, (VF) which is de"ned as follows:
SMD;CFP;PH
VF"
FBD

(1)

where SMD is the number of seat-miles that are generated per day, CFP is the cubic feet of
available space per passenger, PH is the passenger headroom in ft and FBD is the fuel burn in lbs
per day.
Fig. 5 shows a plot of this value parameter for regional turboprops and jets.

40

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

Fig. 5. Value factor (VF) as a function of airplane market price.

Note that for airplane market prices (AMPs) above $ 8 million the turboprops enjoy a much
higher value factor than the jets. Despite this, regional jets are rapidly replacing regional turboprops in this market. In fact, many regional turboprop production lines have already been shut
down. Reasons for this trend are: noise, vibration as well as the perceived lower level of safety. All
these factors favor jets over turboprops. Yet, none of these factors are included in the value factor,
VF. What is interesting is that Fig. 5 shows that jets would enjoy a value factor advantage over
turboprops in the price range below 8 million USD. That happens to be the expected upper price
range for 10}22 passenger regional jets.

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

41

Fig. 6. Correlation of take-o! weight and airplane market price (1999).

Since there are no jet airplanes in this category (in 1999) there seems to be a market opportunity
waiting to be exploited. If this opportunity is to be realized, the cost per airplane must be kept
down! Fig. 6 shows a correlation of AMP with the design take-o! weight of regionals. This graph
may be used to judge the allowable AMP for new regionals outside the existing data-base. The new
proposed airplanes are also shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Several turboprops are shown for comparison.

3. Design philosophy of a proposed family of small regional jet transports

The following items will be brie#y discussed:
3.1. Mission requirement and con"guration.
3.2. Fuel e$ciency.
3.3. Climb capability.
3.4. Flight control system.
3.1. Mission requirement and conxguration
In this section arguments will be put forward for the development of a family of two cost
e!ective, small regional jet transports. The basic mission requirement is given in Table 1.

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J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

Table 1
Mission speci"cation for a family of small regional jet transports
Role:

To provide fast, comfortable and reliable transportation for design ranges from 200 to 600 nm.
The airplanes are expected to create new markets serving between small communities as well as
to compete with existing small regional turboprops when connecting hub-airports with small
communities

Payload:

Version 1
10 passengers, 175 lb each plus 30 lb of baggage in economy class seats with a minimum seat
pitch of 36 in and a seat width of 19 in
Version 2
20 passengers, 175 lb each plus 30 lb of baggage in economy class seats with a minimum seat
pitch of 36 in and a seat width of 19 in

Crew:

Version 1
Cockpit, 1; Cabin, none; 175 lb each plus 30 lb of baggage
Version 2
Cockpit, 2; Cabin, none; 175 lb each plus 30 lb of baggage

Performance:
Range:
Speed:
Fieldlength:
Climb:

Still air range of 600 nm with a full payload and reserves equal to 15% of mission fuel
Mach 0.60 at 30,000 ft (350 KTAS)
4000 ft at sea-level, 903F day
Direct climb to 30,000 ft in 10 min is desired

Powerplants:

Two turbo-fans

Pressurization:
Basic mission proxle:

8000 ft cabin at 30,000 ft

Certixcation: FAR 25

To arrive at a cost e!ective family of airplanes it is necessary to design a high degree of

commonality into these airplanes. It is proposed to achieve this by using the con"guration
approach illustrated in Fig. 7. Two airplanes are sketched: a 10 passenger, single-fuselage airplane
and a 22 passenger twin-fuselage airplane. To enable a cost e!ective design, development and

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

43

Fig. 7. General arrangement of a proposed family of small, regional jet transports.

manufacturing program the proposed layout envisions a high degree of component commonality:
E
E
E
E
E

common
common
common
common
common

outer wing panels,

fuselages,
outer horizontal tail panels,
main gear and nose gear,
#ight control software.

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J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

The fuselage has room for a crew of two although in the 10 passenger con"guration only one pilot
is needed. In the twin-fuselage airplane the extra pilot seats can be used as passenger seats thereby
producing a 22 passenger airplane.
Both airplanes will have two engines. The takeo! thrust will be 2700 and 1500 lb, respectively for
each engine. The engines in the twin-fuselage airplane are oriented such that their thrustline passes
approximately through the center of gravity. This reduces any engine-out control problems. Each
fuselage has a nose gear and a main gear, both retracting into the fuselage. The single fuselage
design will also use wing-mounted outrigger gears.
Both airplanes will be equipped with a #y-by-wire control system with common software. The
airplane estimated price (AEP), which includes a 10% pro"t, for the 22-passenger version is USD
6 million based on a program of 1500 airplanes. The AMP is USD 7 million.
For the 10-passenger version the AEP is estimated at USD 4 million based on a production run
of 500 airplanes. The AMP in Fig. 5 is USD 4.5 million.
Therefore, from a manufacturer's viewpoint the project appears to be feasible.
3.2. Fuel ezciency
An important part of the direct operating cost of a transport airplane is the fuel cost. There are
several measures by which the fuel e$ciency of airplanes can be compared. Examples are
E fuel per trip (or segment),
E fuel per seat mile for a given segment.
Fig. 8 shows selected values for the seat miles per lbs of fuel achieved by typical turboprops and jets
for three di!erent segments. Clearly, the turboprops have a signi"cant fuel cost advantage. With
decreasing fuel costs the cost di!erential between turboprops and jets will be diminished. Because
of much enhanced passenger acceptance (as demonstrated by the sales of jet powered regionals) it is
expected that the small regional jets, despite their relatively poor fuel e$ciency (see Fig. 8) will be
able to break into this market and even expand it.
3.3. Climb capabilities
High initial climb rates can give a regional transport a number of operational advantages.
(1) More time can be spent at economical altitudes, even on short segments.
(2) More time is spent in #ight levels where turbulence is less intense, improving passenger ride.
These advantages can be realized as long as the cabin pressurization system is designed to
`keep upa with the higher climb rates. Table 2 shows typical initial climb rates for regional
transports. It is seen, that the jets already have a signi"cant advantage over the turboprops.
Assuming a typical operating altitude of 30,000 ft, for a segment of 300 sm carried out at a block
speed of 300 mph, the #ight duration is 1 hour. If the average climb rate is 1500 fpm, the climb time
is 20 min. If the average climb rate could be doubled, the climb time could be reduced to 10 min,
leaving 10 min more time to cruise at an economical cruise condition. Additionally, the passengers
would be less exposed to turbulence.

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

45

Fig. 8. Relative fuel e$ciency of turboprops and jets.

3.4. Flight control system

The author believes that the #ight control system of these new regional transports must be of the
#y-by-wire (FBW) type. Small regional transports undergo a much larger number of take-o! and
landing cycles than larger transports. These airplanes will also be #own by pilots with much less
experience. To o!er good schedule reliability these airplanes will have to be able to operate at least
under category II rules into poorly equipped, small airports.
With a conventional #ight control system, this places a workload on pilots which is much
heavier than the workload encountered by pilots #ying larger transports. A #y-by-wire system

46

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

Table 2
Typical initial climb rates of regional turboprops and jets (at maximum takeo! weight, BCA, May 1999 data)
Airplane type

Number of seats

Propulsion type

Initial climb rate in fpm

AEO

OEI

Unpressurized
Cessna 208
Pilatus BN2T
Do 228-212

9
8
19

1;TBP
2;TBP
2;TBP

1225
1050
1870

N/A
215
440

Pressurized
Beech 1900D
BAe 4101
EMB-120A ADV
D0-328-120
ATR-42-500
DHC-8-Q200
DHC-8-Q300

19
30
19
35
48
50
50

2;TBP
2;TBP
2;TBP
2;TBP
2;TBP
2;TBP
2;TBP

2625
2200
2000
3500
1900
1900
1580

675
400
540
900
480
450
370

Jets
Do-328Jet-300
ERJ-135LR
RJ 200ER

32
37
50

2;Turbofan
2;Turbofan
2;Turbofan

3500
2900
3555

900
710
1070

designed with `carefree handlinga (see Flight International, January 20}26, 1999) can o!er such
potential.

4. Development and certi5cation issues

Airplanes such as the Airbus 320, 330, 340 and 319 and Boeing 777 as well as several military
airplanes have by now established the safety, reliability and maintenance cost advantages of FBW
systems over conventional #ight control systems. The hardware and the software needed in these
systems has given rise to the creation of a signi"cant cadre of engineers at various European and
US companies which are now in a position to apply their experience to smaller airplanes. In
addition, in the USA as well as in Europe the airworthiness authorities have been able to develop
with the manufacturers a sound certi"cation basis upon which future certi"cation of FBW systems
can now be launched.
The twin-fuselage con"guration proposed in Fig. 7 does present some con"guration issues which
will have to be addressed. Example questions are
(1) Does the 22 passenger version require any cabin attendants? An airplane carrying 10 passengers
in one fuselage does not. An airplane carrying 22 passengers in one fuselage does require a cabin
attendant. This issue would have to be negotiated with the certi"cation authorities.

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

47

(2) When entering a roll a vertical acceleration will be felt by the passengers of the twin fuselage
design. With a maximum aileron input in an approach condition the vertical acceleration felt in
the twin fuselage airplane is about 0.15 g. That level in an emergency is probably acceptable.
(3) In the twin-fuselage con"guration it may be necessary to have passengers board through a left
door in the left fuselage and a right door in the right fuselage.
The weight consequences of two forward doors in each fuselage have not been investigated.

5. Example con5gurations
Figs. 9 and 10 show isometric renditions of what the proposed family of regional transports
might look like. These designs were worked out as a one-semester project by How Meng Au, one of
the author's graduate students. All performance, weight and balance, cost and drawing information
was generated with the software in [2] and is reported in [3].

6. Summary
A rationale is presented which shows that regional transports in the 10}22 passenger category
will be jet-powered in the near future. Several important operational and a!ordability factors

Fig. 9. Isometric view of a proposed 22 passenger, twin fuselage, regional jet transport.

48

J. Roskam / Aircraft Design 3 (2000) 33}48

Fig. 10. Isometric view of a proposed 10 passenger, single fuselage, regional jet transport.

which de"ne the desired mission requirements for these airplanes are determined. It is shown that
the cost of these airplanes must be kept under very tight control. One approach to achieving
acceptable cost levels is to develop a family of two airplanes, a single fuselage 10-passenger airplane
and a twin-fuselage 22-passenger airplane. To succeed in achieving low cost these airplanes are to
have a large amount of commonality. Several design challenges and certi"cation issues are also
discussed.

References
[1] Norris R. Relative value of regional airline aircraft. Professional Pilot Magazine, 1999;52}6.
[2] Anon. Aerocad and advanced aircraft design and analysis. Software developed by DAR Corporation, 120 East Ninth
Street, Suite 2, Lawrence, KS 66046, USA. Internet address: http://darcorp.com.
[3] How Meng Au. A conceptual layout of a family of a 10-seat single fuselage and a 22-seat twin fuselage regional jet
transport. AE 722 Advanced Aircraft Design Laboratory, Department of Aerospace Engineering, The University of
Kansas, Lawrence, KS.