AND FINALLY EXTRA

This is no April Fool's joke. 

Turboprops are back into Heathrow. Seriously.

And if you don’t know what a turboprop is, it’s a passenger aircraft powered by a jet engine that diverts its energy to propellers instead of emissions.

In days of yore, the “propjet” Vickers Viscount and Vanguard dominated Heathrow. The Bristol Britannia was another noteworthy example. 

Times have changed. Turboprops are out of fashion.

We are now left with the Bombardier (de Havilland Canada) Q400 flying the flag for this form of air transport with the Flybe routes from Newquay and Guernsey introduced at this time joining the airline's Aberdeen and Edinburgh services. Why, you might ask, not a jet? Maybe it is something to do with the past. Heathrow – Cornwall used to be a turboprop route with the ubiquitous Brymon Dash 7 before its takeover by British Airways. (See also BA swallowed them up BTN 25 March)

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