An Australian air carrier Alliance Airlines will boost its fleet with additional 16 former American Airlines Embraer E190 jets.
Alliance Airlines decided to take over 16 American Airlines Embraer E190 jets which were retired in April 2020. The planes and one spare engine will be transferred to the new home for the second life following the $85 million deal. The delivery of the first 5 jets is expected by the end of December 2020. The airline expects to receive the remaining 11 E190s by adding one jet per month from January to November 2021.
All the 16 former American Airlines Embraer E190 jets are expected to have a 99-seat configuration, consisting of 8 seats for Business Class, 4 seats for Economy class with extra-legroom, and 80 seats for regular Economy Class. Alliance Airlines hopes that the additional capacity will help to expand its services, including wet and dry lease operations as well as contract flying.
“The 100 seat jet aircraft market globally will rebound quickly as carriers look to focus on total trip costs rather than traditional metrics,” Scott McMillan, the Managing Director of Alliance Airlines, told local media.
As Alliance Airlines considers to add 40 regional routes to its network, the airline has already expanded the existing fleet of 26 Fokker F100, 14 Fokker F70, 5 Fokker F50 turboprops in addition to the first Embraer ERJ-190 jet, which joined the airline on October 29, 2020, based on Planespotters.com data. Back in August 2020, the air carrier signed a $111 million deal with an American lessor Azorra Aviation to purchase a total of 14 new E190s as well as 6 spare engines.
At the time, the Managing Director outlined that while competitors had temporarily grounded their larger aircraft fleets and the demand for a 100-seat narrow-body configured aircraft in the Australian market had increased, the E190 had the potential to be a perfectly suitable aircraft type for the country’s regional routes.
