American Airlines took delivery of the first of 60 Embraer E-175s it has on order during a Wednesday delivery ceremony at Embraer’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
American has previously taken delivery of 216 ERJ-145s, but the new aircraft is the first E-175 owned by American. It is one of 20 E-175s that American will place with Compass Airlines, the Minneapolis-based subsidiary of St. Louis-based Trans States Holdings. Compass, which will provide service under the American Eagle brand for the first time, will operate the aircraft from Los Angeles International Airport.
The remaining 40 E-175s on order will go to American subsidiary Envoy Air. American also has 90 E-175 options.
The E-175 is “an important part of our fleet renewal program," American VP-fleet planning Peter Warlick, in São José dos Campos for the delivery ceremony, told ATW. “Fleet renewal is one of the key tenets of our future.” He said the “primary use” of the E-175s will be replacing ERJ-145s, though he noted there will be ERJ-145s in American’s regional fleet “for an extended period of time.”
American clearly sees the need to upgauge to the 76-seat E-175 (as well as the similarly-sized Bombardier CRJ900) on many routes, but Warlick said, “I think there will be a mix of regional jets in the US market for the near future. The US is a big market. Not all routes can support a large RJ, so there will be demand for smaller RJs as well.”
American SVP-regional carriers Kenji Hashimoto, also in Brazil, said deploying E-175s is a “good way to match seat supply to demand,” adding, “I think customer demand [in the US] is strong in general. It’s just a matter of having the right [aircraft] to match that demand.”
American’s Wi-Fi-enabled E-175s will be configured with 12 first class seats, 20 “main cabin extra” seats and 44 traditional economy seats.
(Aaron Karp - ATWOnline News)
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