Despite the heavy reliance on jet aircraft in the modern era there are still a large number of propellor aircraft in service, often serving smaller airfields and operating on shorter routes where jets would be uneconomic.

The Dutch company Fokker built the twin-prop F27 from as far back as 1955 – a total of almost 800 were sold worldwide. It had a pressurised cabin allowing operations up to 20,000 feet and could carry 28 passengers over routes as long as 986 miles. Although the last one rolled off the production line in 1987 over 150 are still in daily use. It was succeeded by the Fokker 50, a similar design but with advanced propellors and better engines, giving it a payload of 58 passengers over 1200 miles. Over 150 are still in operation.

In Canada de Havilland Canada developed first the Dash-7 and then the Dash-8. Seating 30 to 50 the series was rolled out from 1975. The main attraction was its STOL (Short Take-off and Landing) capacity, allowing it to use airfields previously off-limits to passenger-carrying aircraft. The Dash-7 had four oversize props which spun at a slower rate than normal, making it also extremely quiet during take-off.

Seven years prior to the Dash-7 de Havilland had also produced the 20-passenger Twin Otter, also a STOL aircraft which could also land on water or, in icy conditions (pretty normal in Canada during the winter months) on skis. It is an aircraft that is tested and rated in extreme conditions to temperatures as low as minus 75°C – something else parts of Canada experience on a regular basis. De Havilland then produced the Dash-8 (pictured above).

In the south of England (on the Isle of Wight) Britten-Norman produced its Islander aircraft, which first flew in 1965, and then its larger cousin, the Trislander, the latter a three-prop design with its third engine on the tail, making it look rather odd. Over 1200 Islanders were built but less than 100 Trislanders – though many are still in operation.

The German company Dornier built 270 of its Dornier 228 twin-prop. Carrying 19 passengers and designed for short, thin routes, over 100 are still in use. Handley Page (which was later absorbed into British Aircraft Corporation – then BAe) began its Jetstream programme in 1967. Another twin-prop it had a capacity of up to 18 over routes of up to 800 miles. It was – and still is with over 150 in service – used as a feeder aircraft. Embraer in Brazil also developed a series of turboprop aircraft, as did Antonov in the USSR and the American company Fairchild. They all have similar capabilities and uses.

By far the largest of the turboprop aircraft built in the modern era was the British Aerospace ATP (Advanced Turbo Prop), holding 72 passengers. It first entered service in 1988 and has twin six-blade propellors, making it highly efficient, quiet and capable of STOL. It had, at the time, a revolutionary cockpit design, using an all-glass display (instead of the original dials) and advanced avionics.

Despite these advances it missed the bus where marketing was concerned and only 64 were built, most of which are still in service. BAe planned a variant of the ATP and began producing its Jetstream but in 1995 BAe merged its regional aircraft operations with ATR (an Italian aircraft manufacturer) in 1995 and its efforts were put into the ATR 72 (pictured).