moving this discussion over from the UPA thread

I believe blowjet has 25 CRJ700's flying for united express, which United has to park on a 1-1 basis as the 175SC's show up to ExpressJet. GoJet, Mesa, Skywest are the only 3 that fly 700's for UAL, and they're not coming out of skywest's CPA. I'm sure Bombardier will design the cabin refresh program so they can refurbish old 700's to the CRJ550, see if the idea sticks before they start up the CRJ700 production line again, and then start selling new ones. CRJ900 is the only CRJ currently being produced. I guess we won't know for sure until UALPA makes a statement on exactly where the 70 seaters are being reduced from to accommodate the 175SC's for ExpressJet.

Maybe i'm in the minority, but I think the CRJ550 is actually a good idea (in limited quantity) because of all the premium seating. United could run one of these every hour or increase frequency between mainline flights between IAD/ORD/EWR & BOS/DCA (or any popular business route).

From the points guy article:

So far, the airline only confirmed that it’ll fly between Chicago (ORD) and Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas (XNA). United is apparently losing out on business from Walmart employees and suppliers looking to fly in premium cabins — with more first-class seats on the way, XNA flyers will have an easier time booking premium-cabin United travel between Arkansas and Asia.

And the proof I can find so far they're used:

With 50 CRJ550s already ordered, and the potential to add more later, we’ll see them on many more routes out of Chicago, in addition to regional flights from other United hubs, including Newark (EWR) on the East Coast. Pending government approval, United’s regional jet operator GoJet is expected to begin flying the 550 by the second half of this year.

If you think Bombardier can certify, build, and deliver a brand new airplane in less than a year, i've got some oceanfront property in Nebraska for you :-)

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united-crj550/