The plight of the all-economy, 50-seat regional jet is renowned, and it is music to the ears of many passengers. United has more flights by them in January than any other carrier globally. However, they’ve recovered far slower than the airline’s total flights and have the lowest proportion of its services in many years.
United dominates single-class, 50-seat RJs
All users globally of single-class, 50-seat regional jets will have about 64,000 flights in January, Cirrum schedules suggest. With approximately 28,000, United Express is the world’s leading user, trailed by fellow US operators American Eagle (~17,000) and Delta Connection (~10,000).
With over four in every ten flights, United’s domination is despite ongoing problems of its RJ pilot shortage that has contributed to routes being cut or moved to other airports and upgauged to three-class regional aircraft. Additionally, some airports will no longer be served.
They now have about a quarter of flights
United Express’ all-economy RJs comprise the Embraer 145 (operated by CommutAir) and CRJ-200 (Air Wisconsin and SkyWest). On January 5th, SkyWest will use the CRJ-200 on a new route for United, from Denver to the Montana city of Butte.
While the CRJ-200 and E145 have a one-class configuration, they have extra legroom seats at the front. Nonetheless, they’re in distinct contrast to the carrier’s three-class CRJ-550s, CRJ-700s, and Embraer 170s/175s, which will be increasingly used. Communities that cannot sustain premium-heavy RJ service – or the higher capacity CRJ-700s or Embraers – are likely to be cut.
United’s use of 50-seat all-economy equipment in January 2022 is 60% of what it was in January 2020, just before the pandemic struck. In contrast, flights by all other aircraft is at 92%. This has reduced the small jet proportion to less than a quarter, the lowest for many years.
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Denver has the biggest proportion of the jets
Looking at United’s seven largest mainland bases in January, Denver has a higher proportion of the small jets than any other hub, Cirium shows. Eighty-two destinations will see them, especially Durango, Colorado Springs, Springfield (MO), Grand Junction, and Fargo.
- Denver: 32% of flights by single-class, 50-seaters
- Chicago O’Hare: 29%
- Washington Dulles: 27%
- San Francisco: 22%
- Houston Intercontinental: 21%
- Los Angeles: 13%
- Newark: 0%
Newark has no service by the CRJ-200/Embraer 145 partly from shifting away from connecting traffic to focusing more on higher-yielding point-to-point demand. It’s helped by the airport’s congestion and challenge to grow. However, Cirium indicates that the CRJ-550 now has more flights from Newark than any other type, while two years ago the E145 was number-one.
Denver is excellent to see CRJ-200s, with four times as many flights as the Embraer 145, a similarly unpopular aircraft with passengers. Meanwhile, O’Hare and San Francisco exclusively see CRJ-200s, Dulles has a decent mix, and Houston is primarily by the small Embraer jet. United will start Houston to Texarkana in February using the Embraer 145.
What is your best (or worst) experience flying these types? Let us know in the comments.
