Their contract includes a clause that allows United to add up to 70 more large regional jets to its feeder fleet – something management very much wants – in exchange for 88 new small mainline narrow-body aircraft. United pilots may hold the key to the possible future of a 100-seater at the airline. (Photo by Marina LystsevaTASS via Getty Images) In response to concerns over complexity, Embraer vice-president of sales and marketing Charlie Hillis said at RAA: “The big argument at the mainline is the cost of complexity of adding a new fleet type… from an efficiency standpoint, the A220 is getting sold and we’re much more efficient than the A220.” The Embraer E195-E2. “You should go to the best aircraft of the aircraft that you’re operating a significant fleet size of because, in that situation, the cost of complexity does outweigh the benefit of having the absolute perfect aircraft for that mission.” “You can’t buy for just a couple of routes,” United then-treasurer Gerry Laderman told FlightGlobal in 2018. Though the argument could be made that United is flying 50- and 76-seat jets to these same airports that make a 100-seater the obvious winner, to paraphrase Gupta, in terms of gauge.Īnother issue that United executives frequently raise is the cost of adding a new fleet type to its 591-aircraft strong narrow-body fleet. (Image by Airbus)īut – and there always seems to be a but when it comes to United and small mainline aircraft – at large, congested airports where the carrier has its hubs, like Chicago and San Francisco (SFO), a larger narrow-body plane will always win out over a smaller one, added Gupta. He was speaking at the Regional Airline Association’s annual convention in Nashville on Sept. The man who leads United’s domestic network planning team, Ankit Gupta, called both the A220 and E195-E2 potentially “great upgauges” from the carrier’s regional fleet of 76-seat Embraer 175s just two days after Nocella’s comment. With restrictions on the number of 76-seat jets that the carrier can have in its regional fleet expected to remain in place for at least medium term, more mainline aircraft are the only remaining option.
While Nocella did not provide specifics, his comment indicates that United will be looking to replace those 50-seat jets with larger models in the next few years. They are also costly for airlines to operate, particularly when fuel prices are high. Small regional jets like the Bombardier CRJ200 and Embraer ERJ-145 are not known for their passenger comfort. Much of that growth has been achieved by adding more 50-seat regional jets back to the United Express fleet to accelerate growth. Nocella was referring to the airline’s nearly two-year old growth plan focused on boosting domestic connections over, primarily, its hubs at Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Denver (DEN) and Houston Intercontinental (IAH).
“There will be a point when we switch from connectivity to gauge… that will be a great CASM-ex tailwind for the company,” said Andrew Nocella, chief commercial officer of United, at a Cowen investor conference on Sept. The Chicago-based carrier may finally be thinking seriously about adding a so-called “100-seater,” as the family of planes that includes the A220 and Embraer E-Jet-E2s are known despite often having more than 100 seats, to its fleet in the next five years. United Airlines has long hinted at the possibility of adding a new small narrow-body aircraft to its mainline fleet, a move that would follow in the footsteps of Delta Air Lines with its Airbus A220s and Boeing 717s.