C Series??
 

United Scope Choke Baby...... dah dah dah dadada dum (a la Vanilla Ice)


United Said to Mull Embraer, CSeries Jets in Fleet Revamp - Bloomberg

United Said to Mull Embraer, CSeries Jets in Fleet Revamp

United Airlines (UAL) is in talks with Embraer SA (EMBR3) and Bombardier Inc. (BBD/B) to buy new narrow-body planes amid a fleet makeover to reduce its reliance on unprofitable regional jets, people familiar with the matter said.
The discussions involve the largest models in Embraer’s updated E-Jets family and Bombardier’s smallest CSeries, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. An order isn’t imminent, the people said.
An Embraer or Bombardier purchase would be a departure for Chicago-based United, whose pilots only fly Boeing Co. (BA) and Airbus Group NV (AIR) aircraft on its main jet routes. The jets under consideration would fill a gap between United’s narrow-bodies, most of which seat more than 150 people, and commuter planes carrying a maximum of 76 passengers.
Choosing one of the new planemakers also would let United place a separate order at the Express regional unit to replace its inefficient 50-seaters. United’s pilot contract lets it take more commuter aircraft, starting in 2016, as long as larger Embraer or Bombardier jets are added to the main fleet.
For regional-jet pioneers Embraer and Bombardier, a deal with United would boost their quest to weaken Boeing and Airbus’s grip on sales of bigger aircraft to major U.S. airlines. Embraer’s two largest E2 planes will have about 140 seats, while the CS100 from Montreal-based Bombardier will carry 108 to 125 people.
Stock Advance
Bombardier rallied on the news, and gained 1.2 percent to C$3.79 at 12:56 p.m. in Toronto. Embraer rose 0.7 percent to 24.17 reais in Sao Paulo. United declined 1.1 percent to $54.61.
United isn’t giving details on its fleet strategy, which includes assessing new and used planes, said Megan McCarthy, a spokeswoman for parent United Continental Holdings Inc.
“We’re talking to all the manufacturers,” McCarthy said in a telephone interview.
Chief Financial Officer John Rainey said Oct. 23 that United is shopping for used models from Embraer, Airbus and Boeing to take the place of the 50-seat jets being parked. United bought its first secondhand planes, two Boeing 737-700s, last quarter.
“We don’t necessarily want to go out and place a brand-new aircraft order that creates several billion dollars more” of capital expenditures, Rainey said during a conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings.
Company Responses
Spokesmen for Airbus, Boeing and Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil-based Embraer declined to comment on talks with United. Marianella de la Barrera, a Bombardier spokeswoman, said “United is obviously an airline that we’re very interested in showing the CSeries to” while declining to give details.
While Embraer’s E190-E2 and E195-E2 are re-engined updates of existing models, Bombardier’s CSeries is an all-new aircraft. The planemaker has struggled to find buyers for the CSeries, whose commercial debut is now set for 2015’s second half after missing a planned 2013 target.
The E2s, which won’t start entering service until later this decade, list for as much as $62.4 million. The CS100’s catalog price is $63 million. Airlines typically get discounts.
United’s results have been hurt by its dependence on 50-seat jets flown under contract by regional affiliates. Even with fuel prices retreating this year, a gallon of jet kerosene still costs about 50 percent more than a decade ago, eroding the economics that once made the small planes attractive.
“We are too reliant on the 50-seat RJ,” Rainey told analysts last month.
Pilot Contract
United can start adding bigger regional jets with 76 seats in 2016, on condition that it takes Embraer or Bombardier planes in the 100-seats-and-up category, according to the airline’s pilot contract.
That agreement set a formula that lets United buy four 76-seaters -- such as Embraer E-175s -- for every five larger mainline planes it acquires, up to a total of 223 regional aircraft. United’s Express unit, which subcontracts flying to commuter carriers, can operate jets that seat as many as 76 passengers.
United has been replacing its 50-seaters with newer, more-efficient E-175s. McCarthy, the spokeswoman, said recent orders have pushed United’s tally to 153 of those planes, the maximum number allowed under the pilot contract.
Each time United replaces a 50-seat jet with an E-175, the airline generates “over $1 million of annual improved profitability,” Chief Revenue Officer Jim Compton said on the earnings call.
To contact the reporters on this story: Julie Johnsson in Chicago at [email protected]; Michael Sasso in Atlanta at [email protected]; Andrea Rothman in Toulouse at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at [email protected]

Scope highlights from the UPA roadshows in 2012:

Section 1 Scope

United Express is now restriction based on UA narrowbody block hours
50 seat RJs & 37 seat turboprops are capped @ 90% UA narrowbody block hours
No 76 seaters until 2014
C70/76 seat RJs at are capped at 255 in 2013 with no more than 130 76 seaters
The cap on 76 seaters can grow 153 in 2012, but 70 seaters must be reduced
Q400s are included in 76 seat cap
Must park 50 seaters to go above 153 76 seaters
Can only go above 153 76 seaters if a New Small Narrowbody aircraft is purchased for mainline UA.
UA pilots will fly the New Small Narrowbody aircraft and that forces a reduction in UAX
Block Hour Ratio limit and number of 50 seaters
All 76 seaters must downgraded to 70 seats if there is a furlough
90% of Feeder flying must be to/from ?hubs?
80% of Feeder flying must be less than 900 miles
Maximum 5% Feeder flying Hub-to-Hub
Must maintain 90% of the current Company block hours to countries with a Joint Venture
Aer Lingus type operations are killed with this "Metal in the market" restriction.
Contract protections in the event of a merger or buyout.

I will always find it funny that the cheerleaders are giving each other high fives for at best equaling Delta scope. Management sure is hating the misery we caused by reducing the total RJ fleet.

"We are too reliant on the 50-seat RJ,” Rainey told analysts last month.

50 was shrinking anyway...cause they suck on many levels but ok sure, mainline pilots totally gave them the whatfor by giving them more large rj's. Right.
The game is rigged. Pilots can't even understand what really happened even when mgmt has put their cards on the table after the hand.

I have been saying this for a long time. The 50 and 70 seaters were going away anyway. We gave the regional airline Mgt. Life support with the bigger planes. We could have killed them, and they deserve to be killed. Now, during the next downturn, Jeff will claim these 90-125 seaters will need to be outsourced to Skywest etc.... To become profitable. We will give that flying away too, probably because Delta is doing it.

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The only reason they are going away is because they can replace them. If they did not have the option to get the 76 seaters they would have no choice but to keep the 50 seaters longer.

Also the 70 seater is not going any where. The ability to have three class cabin in the 70 and 76 seaters allows them to do all the up sells. The ancillary income on these makes for far better economic terms then the 50 seaters.

C'mon Man. Sleeves said the 70 seater was going away....It must be true. Even though our old scope allowed UNLIMITED 70 seaters, they were going away, and therefore this scope is ***. It's THAT simple. :rolleyes:

What is an "Aer Lingus type operation" ?

We had unlimited 78 seaters at CAL with the Q-400 so at least those got included in the new SCOPE as part of the limit, closing that loophole I never liked. But 76 seat jets were not allowed under our CAL scope, so I guess thats a trade off.