Air Canada Jazz wants to add 70-seat Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprops to its fleet "at some point", possibly by trading in some older, 50-seat regional jets it is getting from parent Air Canada.
"We're taking 25 Air Canada [Bombardier] CRJ100s," said Joseph Randell, president of the Halifax-based regional airline.
Speaking at the delivery of the first of 15 75-seat CRJ700 Series 705s on 27 May, Randell said: "If there's an opportunity to trade in some of those for larger aircraft, such as CRJ705s or Q400s, we'd be very interested." He added the Q400 would be useful for some of Jazz's high-frequency turboprop routes such as Vancouver-Victoria, which would suit a larger regional aircraft, but are too short to support jet operations. The airline already operates a turboprop fleet of 42 Dash 8-100s and 26 -300s.
Jazz, the first customer to receive the lower-density seating configured development of the 86-seat CRJ900, has configured its Series 705s to include 10 business class and 65 economy seats. It will introduce the type on routes where Air Canada's Airbus A319s are judged too big, beginning with the Calgary-Houston sector. Bombardier received US Federal Aviation Administration certification for the Series 705 and three other new variants of the regional jet family in mid-May. The other approvals were for the CRJ900 Enhanced Performance Package (EPP), the long-range CRJ900 LR and a CRJ700 engine upgrade.
The EPP improves CRJ900 take-off and landing performance with new leading-edge devices and redesigned winglets, while the CRJ900 LR has its range with a full passenger load increased to 3,660km (1,980nm).
ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/MONTREAL
Source: Flight International
