The high-flying turboprop market shows no sign of losing altitude, as builders on both sides of the Atlantic continue to collect a steady flow of sizable orders from around the globe. Some of the most striking signs of strength have come from the part of the world encompassing Australia, Oceania and Southeast Asia, where more recently Qantas and Malaysian Airlines each demonstrated a growing affinity for prop-driven equipment with plans to place major orders for 12 Bombardier Q400s and 20 ATR 72s, respectively.
Meanwhile, long-established turboprop markets such as Europe show no sign of losing their buoyancy, particularly with the arrival of $90- and $100-per-barrel oil. In fact, another of Bombardier’s latest orders, for 10 Q400s, came from an anonymous European airline that doesn’t now operate the type. The order gave Bombardier its 11th Q400 customer on the continent, helping to dull some of the sting of SAS’s decision to ground its entire fleet of 27 airplanes. (See 'EASA Q400 findings imply isolated fault')
