Republic Airways Holdings Inc. confirmed today that it had placed a firm order for six E190 jets with Embraer and a conditional firm order for 18 additional Embraer 190 or 195 jets.
Republic reported that it intends to take delivery of the aircraft from August to December of 2011. The aircraft will be fleet additions for Frontier Airlines which is owned by Republic Airlines.
“We look forward to growing our fleet of E190 aircraft and to possibly featuring the E195 in our network,” said Bryan Bedford, chairman, president and CEO of Republic Airways. “The E190 is a favorite among business and leisure travelers and offers us great operational flexibility as we continue to optimize our fleet in favor of larger, more economical aircraft.”
“Increasing the average seats per aircraft of the Frontier network will help us further improve our cost efficiency and allow us to more closely pair capacity with demand in a number of markets,” said Daniel Shurz, vice president of strategy and planning.
Republic Airways Holdings Inc. said that it intends to increase the number of aircraft in its three branded carriers by 4% to 5% in 2011 over this year.
The planned capacity increase for Frontier - which groups its three branded carriers - is at the upper end of that being pursued by low-cost rivals such as Southwest Airlines Co. and its merger partner, AirTran Holdings Inc., with Republic switching out smaller planes for larger Airbus and regional jet models.
Republic Airways has also reported higher net income for the third quarter of the year. The company credited the increase in income to the addition of the new airlines Midwest and Frontier that it bought last year.
* Republic Airways Holdings Inc. registered its net income at $21.3 million for the quarter.
* Republic Airways Holdings Inc. had earned $3.3 million in net income last year.
