robbedagain said:
i believe that Air Tran operates the B-717 aircraft which i think may hold 90 or 100 people.
Again, where is the 70 seat version?
Boeings smallest offering are the 717, really the DC9 updated or the 737-600, a poor seller that has commonality but is still too heavy. They offer nothing smaller than the 100 seat range.
Airbus offers the A318, another poor seller with the same problems as the 736. Nothing smaller. They shelved thier plans for the smaller AE316 and AE317.
Bombardier offers the CRJ family, with different stretches from 44-100 or so seats. The larger versions, while offering a nice commonality with the 50 seater, still feel like an RJ with the cramped cabin. They chose to strech the CRJ instead of going ahead with the BRJ-X project.
Fairchild Dornier was set to begin the 528/728/928 project but that may never see the light of day.
Rekkof (Fokker backwards) would like to reopen the F70/F100 line, but again, it may never see the light of day. If it did, it would be years from now.
Embraer's product is a completely different design from thier ERJ135/140/145 line. Its a mainline size/comfort plane, offering flexibility/commonality of 70-110 seats (E170/175/190/195) with 2000 mile range. This can cover everything from smaller regional markets with higher demand than an RJ as well as longer midcon routes all at "mainline", and even superior passenger comfort levels.
US Airways is the 'regional' carrier for one of the busiest air traffic areas in the world. Its fleet problems in the past have consisted of too many similar sized types serving the same mission, full size, high-cost aircraft serving short haul regional routes, larger aircraft tied up on short routes decreasing the stage length and raising costs, a lack of a competitive jet product in traditional small markets, and a big capacity gap between a 50 seat RJ and 120 seat A319.
I think a suitably sized, competitive product operated at competitive costs is exactly what US Airways needs to defend and cement its core route network, and allow it to grow a better long haul network to feed.