Remember the aviation boom times around the turn of the century, when it seemed almost anything would work in the fast-expanding economy? Those 50-seat regional jets, especially-airlines ordered almost 1,000 regional aircraft in the year 2000 alone. And in 2007, a few years after the introduction of larger regional jets such as the Embraer 170/190, the manufacturers collected orders for another 750. Today, the industry could not look more different. The entire commercial aviation sector recorded only 53 orders in 2020, largely due to the effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Total orders stood only at 310 aircraft in 2019, but 110 of them were for Comae aircraft and placed by state-owned Chinese airlines. Several manufacturers have exited the market entirely-most prominently Bombardier, which sold its CRJ series to Mitsubishi and its tur-boprops to Longview Aviation Capital. Mitsubishi shelved the SpaceJet, de Havilland is "pausing" production of the Q400, and with no firm orders in place, Embraer is delaying introduction of the 175-E2 by another year. The larger versions of Embraer's E2 jets are still not selling well, despite a big recent order for the 195-E2. Versions of the ATR turboprop are still being built 37 years after first flight, albeit at very low rates after some solid years in which, some say, ATR oversold. In short, what used to be a promising growth market is back to niche status for now.
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