Just a couple of years ago they were about to close the doors on the facility that makes the ATR line of turboprop regional airliners. Total orders for the ATR 42 and 72 made by the European consortium had dropped to six, and no new customers were on the horizon. The regional jets (RJs) had won, and the era of the turboprop was over, again.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the funeral for the propeller. Oil prices skyrocketed, the financial performance of the world's airlines crashed, and suddenly airlines needed a more efficient and cost-effective way to move passengers over distances of several hundred miles.
Now, ATR has nearly 300 orders from airlines all over the world for its highwing turboprop twins and it is doing its best to ramp up production. The same is true in Canada where Bombardier builds its "Dash" series of turboprop airliners derived from the de Havilland line. The turboprop is back.
For at least 30 years aviation - both airline and business flying - has been announcing the end of the turboprop, but reality keeps intruding.
The first "end of the turboprop" that I remember was in the early 1970s when Cessna introduced the original Citation. That original Model 500 Citation cost about the same as the leading turboprops to buy, and Cessna guaranteed that the jet cost less per mile to operate. At the time Beech, Piper, Aero Commander, Swearingen and Mitsubishi were all building turboprops for business and personal flying. The Citation wasn't fast for a jet, but it was faster than any of the turboprops, and it was easy to fly. It looked like Cessna's prediction would come true.
But the turboprops, at least the popular ones, didn't go away. The Citation was successful, but so was the King Air family. Instead of killing the turboprops, Cessna joined their side with the model 441 Conquest I introduced in 1978 and the 425 Conquest II entering the market in 1981. The Conquest I is among the fastest and longest-range business or personal turboprops ever built, and remains in high demand on the used market today. The Conquest II was among the most basic and modest in performance of any turboprop, and it remains very popular with many used models typically selling for as much as or more than they did new.
If the Conquest family wasn't proof enough that the turboprop lives, Cessna introduced the Caravan in 1985, and it became the bestselling single-engine turboprop ever. Caravan sales continue at a brisk pace today, and the big, bulky single toils at all manner of tasks in every corner of the globe. Even the most ardent jet believer can't find an alternative to the Caravan that doesn't have a propeller.
It is true that the Conquests went out of production, perhaps because building Citations is a better business for Cessna than out of lack of demand. The Cheyennes, Aero Commanders, Merlins and MU-2s are also long out of production, but that may say more about the operations of their parent companies than about demand for turboprops. After all, the King Airs fly on with steady and, recently, markedly increased demand. And, remember, the King Airs were always the most expensive and typically the slowest and least fuel efficient in the turboprop competition, but they clearly deliver what pilots and passengers want - comfort, quality, performance and the biggest cabins.
Though the production life of many turboprop models did end, the turboprop itself still succeeds. In place of the out of production twin turboprops there are three successful singles - the Pilatus PC-12, TBMS (700 and 850), and the Piper Meridian. All are racking up solid sales even though all three cost more than the advertised price of the Eclipse 500 very light jet. Eclipse development has been delayed several times since the original announcement, and fully operational airplanes are not yet being delivered, so that could explain why pilots pay nearly twice the price for a TBM 850. But the Citation Mustang sells for a little less than the TBM, and it's here, fully functional, on schedule, and meets all of its performance and payload projections. Clearly the TBM is attracting pilots with something more than availability.
And now two companies that owe their entire existence to propeller airplanes - Piper and Cirrus - have announced development of single-engine jets. Is this yet another death knell for the propeller? I don't think so.
