American Airlines to buy up to 70 CRJ900 NextGen regional jets

by Devesh Agarwal

CGI of CRJ900 NextGen in American Eagle livery.

Bombardier Aerospace of Canada and American Airlines Group Inc., of Fort Worth, Texas have signed a firm purchase agreement to acquire 30 CRJ900 NextGen aircraft along with options on an additional 40 aircraft.

Based on the list price for the CRJ900 NextGen aircraft, the firm order contract is valued at approximately US$1.42 billion and could increase to approximately US$3.38 billion if the 40 options are converted into firm orders.

American Airlines becomes the first customer to acquire the newest version of regional jet which has an improved fuel burn of four per cent with the “NextGen” package enhancements. Improvement to the aircraft’s engines and ongoing weight reduction initiatives, which include upgraded avionics, will offer a further reduction of up to 1.5 per cent.

Including the American Airlines order announced today, Bombardier has recorded firm orders for 1,812 CRJ Series aircraft, including 339 CRJ900 and CRJ900 NextGen aircraft. Worldwide, CRJ Series aircraft are in service with more than 60 airlines and more than 30 customers operate corporate variants of the aircraft.

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Delta adds new services to Seattle-Tacoma

By BA Staff

Delta 737NG. Boeing photo.

Delta Air Lines will add new daily non-stop flights to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from San Diego International Airport and Portland International Airport as well as an additional flight from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, beginning next year. The new service will provide customers with convenient connections to the airline's growing international network from Seattle.

Delta's new and expanded Seattle service includes:

• Four new daily nonstop flights from San Diego beginning June 2, 2014.
• Four new daily nonstop flights from Portland, Ore. beginning Sept. 2, 2014.
• One summer seasonal flight from Anchorage, Alaska beginning June 5, 2014 in addition to returning seasonal service which begins on May 23, 2014.

In addition, Delta is adding double Medallion Qualification Miles to its recently announced Seattle double miles campaign. SkyMiles members now have the opportunity to earn double miles and double Medallion Qualification Miles for Seattle service between Anchorage, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego and San Francisco on all Delta-marketed and Delta or Delta Connection-operated flights through Oct. 31, 2014

Mike Medeiros, Delta's vice president – Seattle said:

"We have continued to strategically add service from key markets in an effort to support passenger demand for our expanding international destinations. Delta's most recent additions will provide our customers with one-stop access to and from several of the top international and domestic destinations via our growing global gateway in Seattle."

Delta's new service from San Diego and Portland will be operated by Delta Connection carrier SkyWest Airlines using 76-seat, two-class CRJ-900s. The additional Anchorage-Seattle seasonal service will be operated with a Boeing 737-800. Each aircraft is equipped with First Class and Economy Comfort seating as well as onboard Wi-Fi.

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