BRENDAN SOBIE / WASHINGTON DC
Embraer order comes as US airlines seek alternatives to Fairchild Dornier 328JETs
Chautauqua Airlines has ordered 22 Embraer regional jets to support a new feeder arrangement with Delta Air Lines. The order is the second regional jet acquisition in two weeks prompted by an unwillingness on the part of US majors to add Fairchild Dornier 328JETs to their feeder fleets until the manufacturer's future is secured.
But the two feeder operations with 328JETs in their fleets, Delta Connection and United Express - both using Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) - have taken different approaches in altering their expansion plans. Delta Connection has opted for another 30-seat aircraft type, Embraer's ERJ-135, giving it more regional jet types than any other US major. United Express, meanwhile, has opted to replace its 328JETs with Bombardier CRJs, reducing its regional jet operation to two types (Flight International, 11-17 June).
Chautauqua has ordered 15 ERJ-135s and seven ERJ-145s for delivery between October and the end of 2003, and will operate them from Delta's Orlando, Florida, hub. The 37-seat ERJ-135s will replace seven Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops operated by Delta Connection carrier Comair, while the 50-seat ERJ-145s will be used on longer-haul routes from Orlando that are too low-yield to support CRJs operated by Delta subsidiaries Atlantic Southeast Airlines or Comair.
Chautauqua, which becomes Delta's fifth regional partner, has taken options on 30 more ERJs for Delta. The independent regional already operates or has on order 26ERJ-145s for US Airways, 15ERJ-140s for American Airlines and 12 ERJ-145s for America West.
ACA will still operate 30 328JETs for Delta in the eastern USA, but Delta Connection chief executive Fred Buttrell was not comfortable with awarding the carrier more 328JET routes in Florida. Instead Delta opted for Chautauqua and the ERJ-135, which he says could be a platform for future growth given the aircraft's range advantage over the 328JET and Chautauqua's low cost structure. "It's important we have a viable 30-seat regional jet programme now and in the future," he says.
Source: Flight International
