My flieet consists of several Dash 8-400 and one CRJ900. For some of my routes these around 70-80 seats planes are too big. I need just 2-3 planes with aroud 40-50 seats. I thought about ATR-42 or EMB-140. I see that EMB is more expensive and expoitation costs more than ATR, but with EMB is faster and has higher popularity rate than ATR. Does this popularity counts.
Which small plane would you recommend to me for such routes like Warsaw - Lviv, Warsaw - Kosice, Warsaw - Kaliningrad. I tried these routes and really it is hard to fill up the Dash 8-400.
Instead of the ATR-42 you should have a look at the Dash 8-300, leasing is about the same, fuel consumption is better and it can transport more passengers.
Instead of the ERJ-140 I would go for the CRJ200, even if the leasing rates are higher, fuel consumption is much better and its bigger.
So I would go for either Dash 8-300 or CRJ200, depending on the routes you plan to fly, if its below 1000km I would definitely take the Dash.
Also remember after three aircraft types maintenance costs increase, so having a large mixed fleet costs more in maintenance, so I’d agree dash8-300 or CRJ-200 and then you also have the option for dash8-200 if you can’t fill the 300