Regional airliner were replaced by progressively longer-range designs. In the immediate post-war era these were typically Douglas DC-3s, although even the De Havilland Dragon Rapide biplane airliner remained in service for some time. This "hand-me-down" process of supplying aircraft continued with designs like the Convair 440, Douglas DC-6 and Vickers Viscount also serving in this role while the first jets were introduced. By the mid-1950s, demand for even more economical designs led to the production of the first custom feederliners. These were almost always turboprops, which had fuel economy on par with piston engine designs, but had far lower maintenance costs. Often
Airliner delivered to the nascent airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel, which used the first aircraft for pleasure flying, and on 25 August 1919, it inaugurated the first scheduled international airline service from London to Paris. One aircraft was sold to the River Plate Aviation Company in Argentina, to operate a cross-river service between Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Meanwhile, the competing Vickers converted its successful WWI bomber, the Vickers Vimy, into a civilian version, the Vimy Commercial. It was redesigned with a larger-diameter fuselage (largely of spruce plywood), and first flew from the Joyce Green airfield in Kent on 13 April 1919.