Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
SkyWest Airlines has ordered additional 50-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets (CRJs) for Delta Connection services. Chautauqua Airlines, meanwhile, will begin US Airways Express service with Embraer RJ-145 regional jets in July.
St George, Utah-based Sky-West has ordered 10 CRJ-200LRs for delivery between May 2002 and January 2003. SkyWest ordered 25 CRJ-200LRs in January, for delivery beginning in June 2000, 20 of which will go to the airline's United Express operation on the US West Coast, with the remaining five being deployed on its Delta Connection services out of Salt Lake City, Utah.
SkyWest has 11 CRJs operating with Delta Connection: the latest orders will boost this to 26 by 2003. As part of the agreement to buy additional regional jets, Delta Air Lines has extended its codeshare affiliation with SkyWest to June 2006. The new agreement boosts the regional's firm CRJ orders to 45, and options to 35.
Indianapolis, Indiana-based Chautauqua will add 10 ERJ-145s to its US Airways Express network by the end of next year. The aircraft will be leased from the airline's owner, Wexford Management, which has options on a further 20 of the 50-seat jets.
US Airways' scope clause limits the number of regional jets Express affiliates can fly to 35 aircraft. Mesa Airlines already operates a total of 15 CRJ-200s on US Airways Express services.
The Chautauqua deal will take the total to 25. USAirways is expected to add the remaining 10 aircraft allowed to either or both of the Express carriers in 2001.
Source: Flight International
