Industry sources say that Delta Air Lines is interested in studying a
130- to 140-seat airliner that could offer equivalent per seat operating
economics to its larger mainline narrowbodies,
and has spoken to Embraer about the possibilities.
A separate source says Embraer and Delta held talks as early as last year.
According to Flight's ACAS database, Delta operates 113 Boeing MD-88s and 16 MD-90s.
Its merger partner Northwest Airlines operates over 60 McDonnell Douglas DC-9s, some over 40 years old.
Northwest was previously considered a prime candidate for the CSeries.
Kern does not confirm any specific discussions between Embraer and Delta,
calling the airframer's conversations with airlines very "general". He adds:
"We understand the airlines may have some need for some specific sizes of airplanes
and what we are doing today is it is all still very general."
Embraer chief Frederico Curado has said that a decision on a next-generation
aircraft will probably not come before 18 to 24 months.
"So [with] any new airplane, the soonest will be probably in the second half
of the next decade," says Kern.