Mrj 70/90
My question is will this aircraft ever see service with US regional's that currently have it on order. It would appear that not only Mitsubishi, but Embraer with the E2 can't get their latest regional jets under the MTOW. Scope clause agreements are up for review this year with United and next year with American and Delta and all three have invested one way or another it would appear the Regional Model is here to stay.
Quite rightly there are limits in place for both numbers of aircraft and seat capacity. But as we have seen with the CRJ550 if a mainline wants to "work" within the framework of the scope it will.
It would appear now that the critical factor is MTOW and meaningful range. Do the number of seats and MTOW go hand in hand to keep mainline in check or would it benefit regionals and pilots to fly the latest equipment based on the 50/76 seat capacity within the aircraft regardless on MTOW. (Or an MTOW within reason). With no other new regional aircraft in development will it mean a return to the prop era with ATR's for example to replace the aging E145/CRJ200 fleets at some point?