Without an order from the U.S. Air Force to offset the cost for development and tooling, the cost of building the civilian airliners went up exponentially. As a result, the two airlines (American Airlines and Pan-Am) that had originally placed tentative purchase orders, both cancelled due to the additional unit cost. Economically, the RC-2 wasn't as feasible as other designs available at the time, such as the Lockheed Constellation and the Douglas DC-6. Both of those aircraft could carry more people, at a lower cost per mile. In addition, after the hostilities ended in World War II, there were large collections of surplus military transports available for purchase, such as the Douglas C-54 Skymaster. These former transport aircraft lent themselves to be readily converted to airline service at a fraction of the cost of buying new aircraft. Without additional orders, Republic cancelled all further plans to build not only the XF-12 but also the RC-2, leaving just the two original prototypes.