1989: Bombardier Launches The Regional Jet Era

Bombardier’s go-ahead to develop a 50-seat regional jet at the end of the 1980s did not merit much notice from Aviation Week, garnering only a short story and illustration tucked away on page 90 of our April 10, 1989 edition.

But the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) would prove to be a game changer, reinvigorating the regional airline industry and bringing jet travel to passengers in smaller markets that had been relegated to turboprop service.

The CRJ’s 1,700-mi. range and 530-mph top speed “allows airlines to bypass hubs and open and exploit long, thin routes,” our story noted.

The original CRJ made its first flight in 1991 and was certified in 1992. Bombardier would follow it with the 70-seat CRJ700 in 1997, the 86-seat CRJ900 in 2000 and the 100-seat CRJ1000 in 2007. A spike in oil prices that began in 2004 would make 50-seat jets economically obsolete for airlines, and stiff competition from Brazil’s Embraer would end Bombardier’s dominance of the RJ market. But there is no mistake that the CRJ was truly a revolutionary development. 

► Read the report in the April 10, 1989 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology

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