Bombardier Aerospace announced on December 6th, 2012 that Delta Air Lines placed a firm order for 40 CRJ900 NextGen regional aircraft and has taken options on an additional 30 CRJ900 NextGen aircraft.
The aircraft will be configured with 76 seats in a two-class cabin and will be operated by Delta Connection carriers to be determined by Delta Air Lines. Delta Connection carriers currently operate 466 CRJ aircraft: 286 CRJ200s, 79 CRJ700s and 101 CRJ900s – making the combined carrier the world’s largest CRJ operator. The CRJ900s currently operated in the Delta Connection fleet include 57 examples flown by Pinnacle Airlines, 16 aircraft by ExpressJet Airlines and 28 operated by SkyWest Airlines.
Including this order from Delta Air Lines, Bombardier has firm orders for 1,775 CRJ Series aircraft, including 314 CRJ900 and CRJ900 NextGen aircraft.
Worldwide, CRJs are in service with more than 60 airlines and more than 30 corporate variants of the aircraft operate worldwide. CRJs operate in over 50 countries on six continents, and on average, a CRJ aircraft takes off every ten seconds somewhere in the world.
CRJ Series aircraft have transported more than 1.2 billion passengers and have logged more than 34 million flight hours and over 28 million takeoffs and landings.
