There’s a demand for hundreds, if not thousands, more regional aircraft as demand for domestic air travel

serving remote communities is soaring according to a new study.

Okay, the report was written by ATR, who I can safely say have a bit of skin in the game, and was mainly addressing projected growth in the domestic market across the Indian subcontinent.

However, the point is valid. People in developing countries don’t want to travel overground for days on rattly old trains, or drive on patchy roads when those in the West have for many years treated air travel almost as a citizen’s right.

I’m not sure that the model these emerging markets will follow will be the same as mature regions though. I can’t see the traditional high-fare, short-hop airline (of which hundreds already exist across Africa, India and Asia) expanding much more than it already has.

The modern reality of airline economics is that any route operating aircraft under 70 seats without a high load factor is unlikely to be profitable, unless it is subsidised.