Originally Posted by
What
The MRJ 70 with the geared engine is likely to carry similar CASM to the CRJ 700 that it would replace. United and Delta have room for 204 combined 70 seat RJs under the SCOPE clause. At some point the CRJ700s and E175 will need to be replaced and the E170 will not be made in a geared engine variant.
*i would have to verify that the 70 seat RJs don't have a lower MTOW requirement under SCOPE.
The 70 seat variant isn't likely to be delivered for 3 to 5 years down the road... By that time some of these 700s will be 20 years old.
World-class Design
Mainline pilot groups learned a few things over the last 15 years...
Current mainline scope clauses generally have a MGTOW limit as well as a seat limit for RJ's. Seat count is not a precise indicator of economic potential since a higher MGTOW allows for more cargo, which is now a lucrative aspect of the pax airline business.
IIRC the MRJ exceeds MGTOW for most scope clauses. The designers incorrectly assumed (and stated publicly) that scope clauses could be adjusted as necessary, but the pilot group have had enough of that.
Bombardier made the same mistake with with C-series...too small for most mainline ops, to big for regional scope, "assumed" scope would be adjusted.