American Airlines will remove the Bombardier Dash 8-100 from its regional fleet in November, ending a more than three-decade run for the type in the feeder fleets of the carrier and its predecessors.
The Fort Worth-based carrier says its Piedmont Airlines subsidiary is scheduled to operate its last Dash 8-100 flight between Philadelphia and Salisbury, Maryland, on 29 November.
American is replacing the Dash 8s in the Piedmont fleet with 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145s. The regional airline operates 26 ERJ-145s and plans to have 36 by the end of the year, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows and the airline confirms.
The Philadelphia-Salisbury flight will end a 32-year run for the type in American Eagle's regional fleet and those of predecessors US Airways Express and Piedmont Commuter.
An American Eagle Dash 8 in a Piedmont heritage livery
American Airlines
Henson Aviation, which was renamed Piedmont the early 1990s, became the third operator of the Dash 8-100 when it put the aircraft into revenue service in April 1985, the Flight International archive shows.
The regional airline's fleet of Dash 8-100s peaked at 44 aircraft by 1995 and remained around that level through 2008, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows.
Piedmont has 23 Dash 8-100s with an average age of 27.4 years. However, only eight are in service, with the balance stored.
American says it will keep the larger Dash 8-300s in the Piedmont fleet through the summer of 2018. A few Dash 8-100s will remain as spares until the Dash 8 fleet is fully retired.
Piedmont operates 11 Dash 8-300s with an average age of 25.7 years, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows.
American's Dash 8-100s have 36 seats and its Dash 8-300s 48 seats, its website shows.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
