The prospect of turboprop commercial flight in Indonesia

The transportation between remote cities and different islands in Indonesia needs to be served by aviation. One possibility to connect cities with short distance is by using small aircraft, such as the turboprop aircraft. However, the feasibility of such aircraft should be examined due to its huge investment and profitability. This study tries to determine the route network of turboprop aircraft in Indonesia using Ryerson and Ge’s approach (2014) by examining spatial trends for short-haul aviation and on the regional jet routes. The possibility of turboprop flight on the regional jet routes could be assessed by a distance-based and fuel-time trade-off with three scenarios of fuel price. To validate the potential network of turboprop aircraft, binary logit model predict the probability that a route is fit served by a turboprop. This study shows that more than half of the current regional jet routes in Indonesia can be operated by turboprop aircraft. However, the route which farther than its range capability should be operated with regional jet.