By Bjorn Fehrm

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Introduction

May 18, 2017, © Leeham Co.: In the second article about the US regional aircraft market, we looked at the cabins for the regional aircraft we examine. We started with looking at the typical classes and their seat ratios for the mainline aircraft the regional aircraft are feeding to/from. Then we mimicked that on the regional aircraft.

We filled the cabin with domestic First-class seats, then Premium economy and finally Economy until we got 76 seats or the cabin said stop.

Now we complete the picture by comparing the economics of the aircraft after which we summarize our findings.

Summary:

• The benchmark aircraft for the US scope clauses is the E175 from Embraer. It was designed for the scope clause market.
• It's larger dimensions means the operating costs are slightly higher than the CRJ900.
• A scope clause-bound operator can compensate the Bombardier CRJ900's tighter cabin with more seat pitch. It has the longest cabin of all compared aircraft.
• The MRJ70 and CRJ700 are too short for scope clause flying with 76 seat cabins and the MRJ90 is too heavy for the 86,000lb maximum weight limit.