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What leads to a relatively high efficiency of turbine engines in aircraft is either the cruising altitude or the bypass ratio. For higher altitude a turbojet (or pure-jet as it's still often known) makes sense because the air is thinner, so there wouldn't be so much advantage with a high bypass ratio and the fuel consumption would be more related to the lower drag with the air and the lower oxygen concentration limiting the amount of fuel that could be burnt at those conditions, while for intermediate and lower altitudes a turbofan is more advantageous due to the bypass ratio. Turbine engines in general, even turboprops to some extent, are also more prone to damage from foreign object ingestion than piston engines, no wonder some operators still rely on piston-powered aircraft for harsh environmental conditions such as faced by agricultural aviation.
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