New Narrowbody Airliners Vie For Preeminence, Relevance
Accompanying crop of new regional jets shares the wealth of technology advances.

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Single-aisle airliners occupy perhaps the most dynamic and active segment in all of commercial aviation, with no fewer than five new competitors vying for the attention of the world’s fleet planners. While the Boeing 737 Max and Airbus A320neo have taken the majority of new orders, upstarts in the form of the Bombardier CSeries, Comac C919 and Irkut MC-21 have crowded the field and, in the estimate of the newcomers’ manufacturers, threaten to upset an unhealthy duopoly in the mainline airline business. Meanwhile, new aircraft such as the Mitsubishi MRJ and the next generation of E-Jets called the E2s stand to redefine the limits of regional jet operations, where a relative newcomer in the form of the Sukhoi Superjet now commands a limited presence and the Comac ARJ-21 enters service with its first Chinese operator.