Options For Up To 70 CRJ900 NextGen Regional Jets

A firm purchase agreement has been signed between Bombardier Aerospace and American Airlines Group for the acquisition of 30 CRJ900 NextGen aircraft with options on an additional 40. Based on the list price for the CRJ900 NextGen aircraft, the firm order contract is valued at approximately $1.42 billion and could increase to approximately $3.38 billion if the 40 options are converted into firm orders.

With this order, American Airlines becomes the first customer to benefit from the latest enhancements to the CRJ900 NextGen regional jet. In addition to the four per cent improvement in fuel burn already achieved with the "NextGen" package, enhancements to the aircraft's powerplant and ongoing weight reduction initiatives, which include upgraded avionics, will offer a further reduction of up to 1.5 per cent. Altogether, Bombardier says this represents a 5.5 per cent fuel burn reduction over the earlier generation CRJ900 aircraft, and up to 5.0 per cent lower fuel burn compared to announced competitive, in-production jets in the same seat class.
 
"It's been an exciting week for American Airlines," said Peter Warlick, Vice President, Fleet Planning, American Airlines. "We've closed our merger with US Airways Group, Inc. and as we begin the work to harmonize the American and US Airways operations, an agreement like this with Bombardier will greatly improve our ability to optimize our flying with the right aircraft to meet customer demand. This order will allow American to lower costs by replacing older aircraft."
 
"We congratulate American Airlines and US Airways on their merger and are delighted that the merged airline will use Bombardier aircraft for its present and future fleet requirements," said Mike Arcamone, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. "Our ongoing commitment to the technological updates of our product offerings is today realized with value enhancements made to the CRJ900 NextGen aircraft. Over the years we have been successfully driving down operating costs by introducing fuel efficiency improvements and maintenance cost reductions. The product enhancements to the CRJ900 NextGen aircraft offer fuel cost savings of up to $500,000 US per aircraft."

(Image provided by Bombardier)

FMI: www.bombardier.com