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Northwest orders 72 regional jets
The new planes are split evenly between Bombardier and Embraer. Northwest's Compass subsidiary will fly half of them.
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Bankrupt Northwest Airlines, which has long wanted to add large regional jets to its fleet, said Thursday that it will acquire 72 new planes, splitting the order between Bombardier and Embraer.
Northwest didn't disclose its costs for the jets. Bombardier said the list price for its order was $1.35 billion, but the carrier received a discount.
The orders, which intensify the stakes in a bidding war among regional carriers to fly the Bombardiers, are a major milestone in the carrier's planned emergence from Chapter 11.
Northwest CEO Doug Steenland said the orders "are examples of the steady progress we are making in our [bankruptcy] restructuring, which is focused on resizing and optimizing the Northwest fleet to better serve customers."
The carrier has been operating in bankruptcy for more than a year.
Initial deliveries of the 76-seat jets will begin in the second quarter of next year, and the aircraft will be configured with 12-seat first-class cabins.
The Embraer jets will be flown by Northwest's new Compass subsidiary; the Canadair Regional Jets (CRJs) made by Bombardier will be assigned to a regional carrier, but Northwest gave no indication Thursday which bidder might be selected.
Bankrupt Mesaba Airlines has bid to fly 50-seat and 76-seat regional jets for Northwest, but it still lacks new labor agreements with its pilots, flight attendants and mechanics.
"One of our goals is to complete our cost restructuring as quickly as possible so we can aggressively compete for these jets," Mesaba spokeswoman Elizabeth Costello said.
Tom Wychor, chairman of the Mesaba pilots union, said the proposal his union submitted to management Tuesday includes pay scales for flying the 76-seaters.
"In order to operate this equipment, we are going to need high-quality pilots, mechanics and flight attendants, and those employees are going to demand market rates," he said.
Pinnacle Airlines, which has been flying virtually all of Northwest's 50-seat CRJs, also has an interest in operating the 76-seat planes. Pinnacle is trying to negotiate a labor pact with its pilots union.
Northwest worked with Bombardier to restructure the cost of operating 126 CRJs now in its fleet, reaching favorable terms that allow it to take back 15 CRJs it previously rejected in bankruptcy.
Michael Boyd, a Colorado-based airline consultant, said the divided order between Embraer and Bombardier makes sense for Northwest's fleet plan.
The company is meeting with manufacturers to discuss options for replacing its aging 100-seat DC-9s.
"What we have here is Northwest signaling that its DC-9 fleet will probably be replaced with Embraers," Boyd said, adding that it would be easy to move pilots from the 76-seaters to 100-seat Embraers with minimal training.
Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709 • lfedor@startribune.com
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