Yep. They ordered 100 E175. No word of growth or replacement.

There is an option for an addition 100 more. First 40 will be in a 12 yr agreement with United and operated by Skywest Airlines. Placement of the remaining 60 is undecided yet.

I say that there is no word of growth or replacement, because this can come at the cost of a 2-1 swap for something else, Delta portfolio could shrink and this be a replacement, or it could be straight growth. All I know, is that these (Along with the CRJ-700/900) should be flown for mainline.

 

One of the articles around says that they are replacements. Delta only is available to acquire 30 more 75 seaters. They have options for those 30 with Bombardier. But who knows.

 

I’m excited to announce that United has selected SkyWest Airlines to fly the Embraer 175 (E175) under a new, long-term flying agreement. Beginning in April 2014, SkyWest will begin taking the first of 40 E175s to fly as United Express. This is a huge accomplishment for SkyWest for a few key reasons: 1) it represents significant, meaningful long-term growth; 2) it diversifies our fleet and maintains our relevance in the industry’s move toward more large RJs; and 3) it reaffirms our relationship with our largest partner, United. New flying in today’s competitive environment is a tremendous accomplishment, and it’s a credit to you and the hard work we’re doing together to stay agile and competitive.

We’ll be working through a lot of the details in the coming weeks and months, including where these aircraft will fly, but here are the basics of the agreement:
Total of 40 E175 aircraft
The 12-year agreement includes 40 E175 aircraft with United beginning next year

 

I mainly meant that come the 2015 rate reset for Skywest and DCI, they may lose the DCI flying and use this as a "replacement" and with the 2-1 swap, be on the United side of the house. For straight growth, this may be a "temporary" growth until some other planes come off like and attrition allows for the pilot groups numbers to get lower when the planes do come off line.

I also wonder what happens with that MRJ order, dead now? Good.

But like you said, who knows. We are puppets to management and management is puppets to mainline.

 

Patience is a virtue. It was just a matter of time before Inc made a move

 

The rate reset is in December 2015. That's an eternity from now in this business

 

It took no time at all for EV management to use the announcement to plea for labor concessions.

 

If your going to plant a flag at a regional, make sure your in the top 2/3 of the list or better if you want some QOL in the future.

The AA scope changes will likely be renegotiated in the future and the UAL and DAL regional fleets are shrinking. It may not be apparent now, but it will be soon.

The drive in this industry is towards bigger, more fuel efficient, densely seated planes that sell more stuff per pax and remove 50 seaters from the air.

Take a look and find a 76 seater that can cash flow on non-dedicated regional routes like a 737MAX or A320NEO. I'd love to see your spreadsheet on an EMB 175 76 seater vs a 737MAX or NEO at 150+ seats. There's gonna be quite a few routes where the EMB wins at various fuel prices, but not as many you think.

As fuel goes up and up, the smaller jets choke. Too much gas per pax dollar. No tickie, no washie. Now, if they can get that Q400X to work, thats a whole different ball game.

 

People might want to get familiar with the SCOPE at AA, DL and UA.

I'll make it simple. DL will have 450 airframes, UA will have 450 airframes (I believe, that SCOPE clause is a bear). S0 a total of 900 airframes for these two carrier. SKW inc currently operates 40 airframes for someone other than DL or UA out of 750 airframes. So do you really think SKW inc will control 700+ airframes out of the 900 total that UA and DL will have in 2016. That's 2 1/2 years from now.

 

That's a lifetime in the airline biz... A lot can happen from now until then.