Originally Posted by
PsiFighter37
Maybe it comes back if that electric startup succeeds in actually bringing its planes to market that UA is contracted to buy. I do wonder if there is a long (and somewhat off-topic) story that would explain the reason behind the economics of why airlines stopped flying these birds and/or why manufacturers seem to be moving steadily away from making smaller planes. As an example, I can't think of what is going to replace the CRJ2s and the E145s when retirement comes around...both of those birds are not very young at this point.
If that electric plane startup ends up working out, I could see a lot of shorter routes increasing in frequency, given that electricity is effectively free when compared to aviation fuel. I think a lot of the reason that smaller planes are falling out of popularity is increasing fuel costs, increasing employee costs, increases in urban centralization and decreases in small city populations, etc...