The latest rumor floating around is that PSA will be getting 70 seaters and announcement is pending. First one to be delivered within the month. I'll believe it when I see it, of course.
I've heard that PSA has contraced for a year with Bombardier for CRJ 700 initials. Still haven't seen any press info but I've heard this from a couple of people now who seem to think it is reliable. Any truth to the rumor?
Having both the Embraer 170 and the inferior CRJ700 is silly. We used to have every 100 seat aircraft you could think of at mainline, now we are apparently aiming to have every piece of regional equiptment available. Makes no sense whatsoever in the long run.
US Airways has acquiesced to ALPA’s position that 25 CRJ-700s, not the CRJ-705 (CRJ-900 Variant), can be flown at a J4J Participating Wholly Owned carrier. With no decision yet on placing these or any other RJ at Allegheny or Piedmont (who could be liquidated), the only other airline who can take delivery of these jets -- ordered by US Airways -- is PSA.
Thus, I believe your rumor is valid and the CRJ-700s will be placed into operation at PSA in the not-so-distant future.
Having both the Embraer 170 and the inferior CRJ700 is silly. We used to have every 100 seat aircraft you could think of at mainline, now we are apparently aiming to have every piece of regional equiptment available. Makes no sense whatsoever in the long run.
I'm sure CCY would agree with you. They've shown a clear preference for the EMB 170 - as I believe most passengers will given the rave reviews that this aircraft has received. It's my understanding that the reason they went with both is two-fold. First - Financing. This was apparently the easiest way for them to finance these aircraft. I'm sure there is someone on this board who can give some of the details on why this had to be done the way it was done. Second - delivery. Recognizing that U has to play catch-up quickly, this is the fastest way to move the RJs in and the turbo-props out.
At the time, it appeared these orders would actually allow U to leapfrog its competition with 2-class RJ service. However, in both cases, this turned out not to be the case. The CRJ-705 didn't fall within contractual restrictions and had to be changed to CRJ-700s, which don't have enough room for a 2-class configuration. With the EMB-170, it seems there were concerns about seat pitch in coach if there were to be a f/c section.
