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Reimagined cabins in CRJ200s give the venerable airframes new life in United Airlines’ fleet strategy.
Despite countless predictions of their imminent demise, legacy Bombardier regional jets continue to play key roles in airline networks, particularly in North America. MHI RJ Aviation has ignored the naysayers while expanding its aftermarket supportfor the resilient CRJ fleet.
Among the recently introduced services is parts manufacturing, MHIRJ Senior Vice President Ross Mitchell told Inside MRO. “We’re cutting metal,” Mitchell said at Aviation Week’s MRO Americas in Orlando, Florida. “It’s fabricated metal parts where the supply chain [has gaps]. We can manufacture those parts ourselves.”
At the part number level, MHIRJ can produce about 7,000 parts, most of them structural, at its component repair and overhaul (CRO) facility in Bridgeport, West Virginia, he said. The work is done in a former back shop that supports a seven-line heavy maintenance facility on the site. MHIRJ split the shop into CRO and the new manufacturing operation.
CRO focuses on largely the same types of parts—“a lot of flaps, doors and similar items,” Mitchell shared. While adding capabilities such as hydraulics is possible, structures work keeps the shop busy enough. “The demand is such on the structural parts that we can continue to grow it without branching out beyond that,” he said.
MHIRJ is supplementing its internal capabilities with parts sourcing, including by leasing landing gear. While the company does not invest heavily in its own pool of used serviceable material, it seeks parts for customers in need. “We actively participate in finding parts,” Mitchell said. “It’s usually on an as-needed basis but has been growing over the last couple of years.”
Much demand stems from the CRJ family’s solid footing in the U.S. airline network. Embraer offers the only new-build regional jets that can meet the major airline scope clauses that restrict the flying of smaller-capacity jets. But the Bombardier legacy line has carved out its own unique niche—two-class regional jets that offer comfort akin to mainline cabins.
United Airlines announced plans in March to add at least 40 reconfigured CRJ200s to its network. The 41-seaters, dubbed CRJ450s, are to include seven first-class seats, new overhead bins and first-class baggage storage. SkyWest Airlines is to operate them under capacity purchase agreements (CPA).
While the initial CPA covers 50 aircraft, SkyWest President Chip Childs said the regional airline plans to retrofit more, including up to 30 that are in storage. “We . . . anticipate that our total CRJ-450 fleet will reach approximately 100 aircraft,” Childs said on an April 23 earnings call.
The arrangement follows the CRJ550 program under which United is operating CRJ700s reconfigured and recertified to a 50-seat, two-class layout. It also gives new life to a category of aircraft facing a grim future as mainline carriers seek to replicate mainline amenities—and generate premium-level revenue—while expanding their networks into as many markets as possible.
“The CRJ450 enhances the life of the fleet,” Childs told Aviation Week. “We anticipate utilizing these airframes for quite some time.”
The Aviation Week Fleet Discovery database lists 1,297 MHIRJ CRJs globally, with about a third built as CRJ200s. This includes 424 of all variants categorized as parked or stored. It is unclear how many are undergoing maintenance as part of the CRJ450 program or other reactivations.
SkyWest said it has 29 of the planned 50 CRJ550s in service, and the rest are slated to join the fleet this year. The carrier has at least 10 other aircraft—likely future CRJ450s—undergoing heavy maintenance following long-term storage.
CRJ450 conversions take about two weeks and are being done at SkyWest’s maintenance facility in Tucson, Arizona. The airline plans to run two lines to expedite the work. The first CRJ450s are expected to enter service this fall, SkyWest said.
New life for a seemingly sunsetting 50-seat variant will necessitate additional support. Between its Bridgeport and Tucson facilities and growing ancillary services, MHIRJ believes it is prepared to meet operators’ needs.
“We’re here to support the airplanes,” Mitchell said. “Because we’re here to support the airplanes, the airlines will keep them. There’s no reason to take them out of service, from an economic perspective. If you have products like the 550 or the 450 and the passenger really likes them, that’s a key win for operators, and they’ll just continue to operate them.”
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