Mesaba Takes First NW CRJ-900 NextGen

Bombardier and Mesaba unveiled the NextGen family of aircraft when the first delivery of Northwest’s 36 CRJ jets took the opportunity of a proving run to make a stop in Washington yesterday to illustrate the NextGen cabin interior. The second aircraft set for delivery is scheduled to be at The Paris Air Show. The aircraft, dubbed the Soaring Eagle, is to be operated by Mesaba when it enters service on Thursday. The changes increase the price of a CRJ-900 by $300,000 and a CRJ-700 by $250,000. Bombardier will fold the CRJ-900 NextGen deliveries into its production line this year, with the CRJ-700 NextGen in 2008 and the CRJ-1000 in the first quarter 2009. In the meantime, it will produce a mixture of current CRJs and NextGens. Delta is also slated to get NextGen aircraft. The company is concentrating on the CRJ900 since most recent sales have been for that model. Indeed, the company has sold out the current configuration and said the next availability is NextGen. Some 1,538 CRJs are in operation with 52 customers in 22 countries. It operates the third most departures per day worldwide. It also flies one fourth of all U.S. passengers and accounts for one third of the US fleet. Besides the new interior, Bombardier is touting a weight reduction for its improved economics although it is not revealing just how much weight has been reduced as a result of an increased use of composities. The -700 promises a 12 percent improvement over its competition, the -900 an eight percent improvement and the -1000 a 15 percent improvement. For a complete report see the June 12 edition of Regional Aviation News