American Airlines Places Orders for 220 Regional Jets from Bombardier and Embraer

American Airlines check-in area at JFK

American Airlines, which merged with US Airways earlier this week to become the world’s largest carrier, announced plans to purchase up to 220 new regional jets from two aircraft manufacturers, Bombardier and Embraer.

The airline plans to use them to replace its less efficient 50-seat planes, and will carry the American Eagle livery.

American said it plans to deliver a “top-tier regional product” with the new aircraft, which will all be Wi-Fi equipped.  The new regional jets “will greatly improve economic efficiencies by lowering operating costs,” said Kenji Hashimoto, the airline’s vice president for regional carriers.

With Bombardier, American signed a firm purchase agreement for 30 CRJ 900 NextGen aircraft, with options for an additional 40.  The order is valued at $1.42 billion and would increase to $3.38 billion if all options are exercised.

The new aircraft will come equipped with 12 first-class seats, 32 Main Cabin Extra premium-economy seats, and 32 seats in coach.  PSA Airlines will operate the aircraft for American, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of US Airways.  American expects to begin taking delivery of the new CRJ900s in the second quarter of 2014.

From Embraer, American placed a firm order for 60 E175 jets with options for an additional 90.  The firm order is valued at $2.5 billion at list price, and would increase to $6.25 billion if the additional options are converted into orders.

The E175 planes will have 12 first-class seats, 20 Main Cabin Extra premium-economy seats, and 44 seats in economy.  American plans to begin to take delivery of the E175s at the beginning of 2015.

Both the Bombardier CRJ900 and Embraer E175 aircraft are powered by General Electric CF-34-8 engines.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)